


Love Left Behind

by Crystalve, SpencerRea (Crystalve)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Earth, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, M/M, Multi, Returning Home, Shiro is rude, They miss their family, so is allura, they're all sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-03-30 12:15:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13951368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalve/pseuds/Crystalve, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalve/pseuds/SpencerRea
Summary: Earth has been on the back of their minds for the past three years, yet they've been forbidden from returning. But enough is enough.xxxOr when Lance, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk decided to visit earth against the orders of Shiro and Allura.IMPORTANT INFO: I began writing this story before Shiro was confirmed as a gay man. I originally began this with a Shallura take. I want to work Adam into this story however, there will be some Shallura aspects until it shifts. I really hope that doesn't bother anyone!!!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING:  
> \- This fic takes place before Season 3 and 4. So Blue Paladin Lance and Red Paladin Keith.  
> \- It's been three years.
> 
> I've already planned out the rest of this story and had so much fun writing this first chapter. Let me know what you think! This is also going to be post of FanFiction.net

Heavy footsteps carried themselves through the room as a restless paladin wasted away their night. It was no secret that nighttime was all but welcoming to many of the inhabitants on the Altean ship. Some were greeted with horror-filled night mares that left them shaking in fear. Some were wired to work all night and sleep all day. Some were tortured with their thoughts and doubts until they could no longer decipher what was real and what wasn’t. And some were haunted with the unknown.

They always said the unknown was the most feared, but Lance had no idea how true that statement was until he was whisked away to fight an intergalactic war against a dominating species. Not until he had no way to know how his family was doing without him.

He had always dreamed of being the hero in the story books, not even necessarily for a pretty girl, but for his family. He wanted to be the one to save them all and bring them the happiness they so desperately needed. No one would ever know, but his families immigration process was all but peaceful. Lance wanted to be the one to make all their hard work and determination worth it by embracing everything his parents had risked so much for him to have. He wanted to provide for them and protect them as his father grew old. He wanted to teach his siblings to ride a bike and protect his younger sister from boys. He wanted to take care of his mother who he knew was going to need a break sooner or later. He wanted to get them out of the rickety old house they were lucky enough to afford. He wanted to make everything better. That is why he joined the Galaxy Garrison.

So why was he hundreds of lightyears away from the very family he wanted to save?

He knew he had a job to do. He was expected to protect and serve for years to come at the expense of his own happiness. He knew what the title of Defenders of the Universe entailed, but it was definitely a hard pill to swallow.

How was he supposed to accept the fact that he likely will never see his family again?

Lance halted his pacing, as the tears he was trying so hard to suppress came flooding out. He couldn’t help himself. He knew that he looked weak. He knew if Keith came in he’d likely be humiliated. He knew there wasn’t much he could do. Yet he cried. He cried for the family he lost. 

Lance crouched down onto the floor as memories of coconut scented candles and butterscotch cookies on summer nights invaded his mind. He could see his shared bedroom with his two brothers. The glow in the dark stars that covered his earth bedroom resembled the terribly cut paper stars he’s put together in his current paladin bedroom. His brothers, they were so tiny when he left three years ago. How old were they now? 13 and 15? Or was it 12 and 14? 

Had they moved his stuff?

Had they given his younger brothers his hand me downs? Given their financial situation, he hoped they had.

Had his sister had her first kiss?

Did his father finally finish making that go kart his family had been working on?

Did they get to celebrate Christmas with new toys?

How did the first day of school go?

Lance drew in a deep breathe, trying to calm himself. He could feel a headache coming on, and he would much rather go without the incessant pounding for hours. He knew he should stop thinking about the family he should push to the back of his mind, but that was much easier said than done.

He had learned earlier that day that it was the same for Pidge and Hunk. They had all shared their wish to visit their families. But the idea was immediately shot down by Shiro and Allura. The mission at hand was most important, and even though they had held their ground with he Galra for years, there was still the chance that they could strike at any moment.

Lance had been confident that a quick trip back to earth would be fine, just tell their families that they were okay. But Allura and Shiro were adamantly against it. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were devastated to say the least. The small flicker of hope that Allura of all people would understand wanting to see your family again diminished with her firm rejection.

Everyone tried to reason with them, even Coran who could understand the situation.

_“Please think about it princess. What would you give to see King Alfor again?”_

But she remained by her decision.

Everyone had something to say about the situation, except for one particular hot head who remained silent. At first, Lance was hurt that Keith hadn’t tried to help them. But he dropped it as the entire plan fell through with Allura’s dismissal. Everyone remained in their quarters for the rest of the day.

Now here Lance was, at what he assumed was around midnight (he was never quite sure in space), wondering why he still tried. Why continue hoping when it hurts you every time? Why dangle a prize in front of your face that you will never reach?

His tears began to die down but not early enough to avoid the thunderous pounds in his head. He sighed as he wiped his running nose on his sleeve. He didn’t care how much of a mess he looked, he needed to get rid of this head ache.

Reluctantly, Lance stood slightly hunched. He swayed lightly as his vision darkened for a moment. He closed his eyes and brought his palm to his temple, trying to will the pain away. 

_I need water._

Lance opened his eyes which burned from the amount of tears he’d released. He had cried over his family, but never to this degree.

Pulling on his navy green jacket, Lance made his way to the door. The door opened upon his request allowing him to head to the kitchen in somewhat of a trance. His mind was filled with numb thoughts of his family. He knew he should likely stop thinking about them in ordered to stop his depressing mood. But he had always hoped they’d never stop thinking about him, so how could stop?

Lance pulled out a glass and began filling the cup with water. He was grateful that Alteans used the same water Humans used on earth. He was half expecting some weird green alien juice as their liquid intake. Luckily, water was the universal hydration method even in space.

After filling his cup, Lance began to drink slowly as his mind wandered again. He wasn’t sure how long he was in the kitchen before someone found him. 

Lance had sat himself on the floor holding his cup between his legs. He was staring off into space when Keith realized he was there.

The red paladin had also came to the kitchen for water. He had done so many times before and ran into the other members. But none of them had ever looked the way Lance did now. He looked terribly sad, and lost. Keith felt a pang in his chest for his friend. He could understand how he felt, yet had no idea how to help him. He wasn’t as good at comforting people as Lance could do with everyone else when they got into these moods. He wasn’t a problem solver. He was a “shoot first and ask questions later” kind of guy, as Lance would put it. He wasn’t equipped for this kind of stuff.

Yet he found himself drawing closer to the boy in the corner of the kitchen.

Lance had yet to noticed his presence, and for a moment Keith considered leaving. But that’s not what a good friend does. He learned recently what being a good friend entails from his fellow blue, yellow, and green paladins. They had showed him what a true friend was., how to ask for and accept help. How to support each other.

Lance needed a friend.

Keith approached Lance and kneeled down to his level. Keith was slightly surprised that Lance still wasn’t aware he was there.

“Lance?” Keith asked gently which helped Lance snap out of his distant gaze.

It was then that Keith noticed the red rimmed eyes and dark circles.

“Hey,” Lance quickly wiped away his remaining tears in order to hide his current mental state.

Keith wasn’t really sure what to do after this, the thought of hugging Lance crossed his mind but he didn’t quite feel comfortable enough to do that. What else was he supposed to do?

“Um…” Keith stammered as he looked away from Lance’s blue eyes, “Are uh… Are you okay?”

Keith internally groaned. Of course he wasn’t okay. You just caught him crying!

“Yeah,” Lance choked out with crimson shading his cheeks, “Yeah I’m good.”

Keith narrowed his eyes,“You’re lying.”

Keith thought back to earlier in the day. Lance had to be upset about the decisions of Allura and Shiro. Keith couldn’t say he blamed him, but part of him was hurt by Lance’s outburst. Was he nothing to the blue paladin?

“Why do you care,” Lance said a bit harsher than intended. Luckily Keith was used to it.

The dark haired boy looked away in embarrassment, “Because you’re my… friend?”

Lance gave Keith an amused look, “You don’t seem so sure.”

Keith scoffed, “Maybe I’m not.”

Keith must be mad about his earlier attempt at visiting earth. Lance sighed. He knew he should apologize. Keith didn’t have any family to go home to. The most he had were the social workers that tried to find him a new home every few months. Other than that, this ship and the paladins were as close to home that he had. They were his family. It must have been a stab to the chest to have your whole family beg to leave.

“Keith,” Lance began but Keith suddenly stood.

“I’m gonna go,” Keith said, sounding like he was holding back tears of his own. His hands shook by his side which Lance could see even in the dark kitchen corner.

Before Keith had a chance to leave, Lance grabbed hold of his trembling hands. Keith attempted to jerk away on instinct but Lance’s grasp was firm.

“Please, listen,” Lance begged.

Keith truly wanted to listen, but he was terrified. He was terrified of what Lance would say. He was always waiting for the paladins to push him away like every foster family in that past had done to him. He should have seen it coming, maybe then he wouldn’t be so heartbroken. Maybe then he wouldn’t have attached himself so much.

But something in Lance’s ocean blue eyes told him he should stay and listen. Maybe he’d like what he had to say regardless of the looming terror in the back of his mind. 

Keith let out a breathe he hadn’t noticed he was holding before sitting down diagonally beside Lance in the corner of the kitchen, He didn’t say anything, opting to remain quiet and let Lance speak. There was a bit of an awkward silence as both boys attempted to gather their thoughts.

“Listen,” Lance began with a shaky voice, “I understand your past. I don't know much but I know enough.”

Keith shifted uncomfortably, not liking the attention on him. But Lance offered him a gentle smile which eased his nerves slightly.

“But I do know that you don’t have a family to go back to.”

The sting in Keiths chest made a feisty return. Memories of screaming and disappointed elders invaded his mind. He almost thought he might break down then and there.

“And I want you to know, know matter what, we’re your family.”

Keith’s eyes widened, almost doubting the words Lance was saying. He knew he and the the younger paladins had grown closer, but he didn’t know they had considered him family as well.

“We’ll always be your family,” Lance said softly, “and I want my family to be yours too.”

Keith snapped his gaze to meet Lanes’s soft eyes. Words hung at the end of his tongue. He didn’t quite understand, but didn’t know how to ask. What had Lance meant? Did he mean what he thought he meant?

“What…?” Keith’s managed to ask earning him a tiny grin from Lance.

“I want to share my family with you.”

This time it was Keith crying in disbelief. For a moment Lance thought he’d made a mistake He’d thought Keith was going to get even more upset. But he decided to take his chances, and encircled Keith into a hug. The red paladin froze, letting the feeling of comfort set it, before accepted the hug graciously.

 

Xxx

Pidge was sat in her room, attempting to makeshift some kind of connection to earth with the various tools and equipment she had on hand. After Lance had nearly begged Allura and Shiro to allow a trip back to earth, she couldn’t get the thought of her family out of her head. With her brother and father missing, she only really had her mother back on earth. She had no way to contact her from the depths of space and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t seem to reach any earth frequencies.

But that didn’t stop her from trying. Over and over again. It was nearing 4 AM and Pidge was still hard at work, tapping away at her computer keys in her dimly lit bedroom. She had run through so many lines of code in her newest program to replicate earth telephones and hopefully strengthen the signal enough to make a call or two. She knew how unlikely it was for that to even happen. It was impossible to create something that strong. But she couldn’t stand doing nothing.

She barely noticed the sound of her door sliding opening and found it hard to suppress her jolt of surprise when a new voice started speaking.

“You’re up again?” Hunk said with a voice that sounded very much awake as he laid a hand on Pidge’s relaxing shoulder.

The smaller of the two remained focused on her work. Lately Hunk had taken notice to Pidge’s frequent late night ventures on her laptop. He was worried about her, as was everyone else. Lance and Hunk often had to convince her to get some sleep before she wore herself out. But honestly, Hunk didn’t have much room to talk. He was up late enough every night to know of her bad habit. 

Being in a space war definitely wasn’t easy on the mind. Everyone was plagued with nightmares nearly every night. For someone to stumble into the kitchen in the middle of the night with uneasiness was rather normal on the Altean ship. Every death, every sacrifice, were burned into their mind and haunted them every time they had a moment to breathe. 

“I see you are too,” Pidge responded without breaking eye contact with her screen.

Hunk took a seat in Pidge’s empty chair that he inhabited most nights when they couldn’t sleep, “Yeah, good observation.”

Pidge took a moment to tear her eyes off of her screen to glare at Hunks obvious sarcasm earning her a slight chuckle.

“Anyway,” Hunk gulped as he returned to a more serious tone, “How are you feeling? About this morning?”

Pidge avoided answering the question, “What do you mean?”

Hunk knew Pidge was sensitive when it came to talk about family. After losing her brother and father, she was always on a mission to find them. Now with the topic of earth on everyone’s mind, her mother must also be weighing on her shoulders too.

“I know you miss her,” Hunk said softly.

Pidge halted her typing as tears began to form in her eyes. She thought of family game nights and awkward conversations about boys with her older brother. She thought of hugs from her mom and the smell of freshly cooked bacon on a Saturday morning. She thought of the dozens of fairy lights scattered around her room illuminating her framed photos of her family and awards. 

Pidge suppressed a sob which Hunk took as a sign to wrap his arms around her comfortingly.

“I do,” She chocked out with tears streaming down her cheeks, “I miss all of them.”

She began to feel something wet on the fabric of her sleeve and pieced together than Hunk was also silently crying after she heard his voice, “I do too Pidge.”

Pidge grabbed hold of Hunks arm that was wrapped around her front with anger, “Why wont they just let us go?”

Pidge’s voice rose slightly as she clenched her teeth. She was pissed, and that was too put it lightly. She was pissed at Shiro and Allura for keeping her from her family. She was pissed at the lions of Voltron for forcing her into the role of Paladin. She was pissed at the Galaxy Garrison for sending her family on a death trip. She was pissed at Zarkon for causing this giant war that kept her tied to a floating castle in space.

But most of all, she was done.

Pidge suddenly stood, letting Hunks arms drop in confusion. The taller boy stood as well with a questions look as he wiped away the tears that still clung to his face, “What’s up?”

Pidge, red-eyed and determined, grabbed a bag from her closet and began stuffing it with various clothing items, equipment, and anything else she could stuff inside.

“Uh…” Hunk eyed her curiously, “Pidge?”

“We’re going,” She said with a shaky but slightly angry voice as she stuffed her Bayard in her bag.

“Going… where?” Hunk asked with a tiny spark of hope that she would say to earth.

As much as he loved Shiro and Allura and respected them as people, he needed to see his parents. He hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye before he was named Defender of the Universe. He needed a chance to explain things. He needed a chance to tell them that he loved them. He needed to taste his mothers meatballs again and laugh with his father again. He yearned for that familiar comfort.

Even as a 20 year old, he missed the childlike affection from his parents. He missed their family bonding moments. And he’d be damned if only two people stood in the way of him seeing the two people that meant the world to him.

“We’re going to see our families,” Pidge secured her bag over her shoulders looking at Hunk with determination.

Hunk nodded in agreement, not needing any other convincing from the now 18 year old in front of him who had matured quite a bit in the past years. She was definitely feminine and sported her old longer hair in a ponytail from before she was in the Galaxy Garrison with a tomboyish style. She grew a few inches and now stood closer to Keith’s height. She was quite the lady, and everyone on the team was grateful she grew up by their side.

Hunk was proud to have her as his friend.

“Alright Katie,” Hunk said, with a smile which Pidge grinned back at, “What’s the plan?”

Pidge headed towards her door, grabbing her laptop in the process, “You head to your room and get packed. I’m going to find Lance and Keith. I’m willing to bet neither of them are asleep either.”

Hunk’s face fell slightly at the realization that Pidge was most likely correct. He doubted any of the four youngest Paladins were in a good state.

“Meet me down in the Lion Hangars when you’re done,” Pidge said while opening the door.

Hunk nodded as he followed her out of her room, heading for his own as the young lady he was just talking to sped down the opposite end of the hallway.

Suddenly Pidge stopped in her tracks and spun around to face Hunks face, “Oh, Hunk?”

The bigger man, who had his long hair pulled back up into a high ponytail, peered over his shoulder at pidge, “Hm?”

“Don’t forget your smile.”

Hunk Grinned at the smile on Pidge’s face. It had become a saying between the four youngest paladins. 

Don’t forget your smile.

Don't forget who you are.

Don’t let them take your humanity.

It means way more than just smile. It was a way of living. And this time it gave Hunk hope to be happier than he’s been in the past three years. Hope to believe.

Xxx

Pidge’s footsteps echoed through the corridors of the castle as she searched for Keith and Lance. At first she thought it would be easy to find them considering they likely would be awake. She quickly realized that was false when she had no idea where to find them.

Sighing, Pidge halted in the middle of the hallway, “Think Katie,” She whispered with closed eyes, “If I were Lance, where would I go?”

Images of the blue paladin rubbing at sleepy eyes as he stumbled to the kitchen in the middle of the night filled her mind, She’d often seen him trying to soothe his nightmares with a drink of some sort. She had never thought to follow up to see if it worked for future use, so she made a mental note to ask him.

The green paladin headed for the kitchen that Lance frequently visited. She began to worry as she became closer to approaching the entrance. What if they decided against it? What if they thought it was a bad idea? What if they prevented her and Hunk from leaving. Pidge stopped, debating going through with this. If they were going to stop her, she wasn’t going to risk it. She’d made up her mind, and she wouldn’t let anyone stop her.

But then she remembered, it was Lance who brought up visiting earth. She knew how much Lance missed his family. There’s no way he would try to stop her, that is if he didn’t want to go himself. Finally, she gathered up the courage to continue her trek.

She made it to her destination shortly later and was slightly surprised to see Keith and Lance hugging. Over the past few years the two have definitely come closer, but still put up that rivalry facade. Pidge knew it was all an act for each of them. They both cared for each other dearly. It was clear especially within the past two years when Shiro began distancing from the rest of the paladins. The four youngest had grown close, often relying on each other to stay sane in this war.

So when Keith and Lance’s real feelings for each other slipped out, she wasn’t surprised but more grateful. Maybe one day they can drop the act all together.

Pidge cleared her throat as she approached the two boys. They both whipped their heads towards the new party with a blush tinging their cheeks.

“Hey there Romeo and Juliet,” She smirked as she headed for the pantry to fill up another bag with multiple water bottles and food items.

“Give us a break Pidge,” Lance said weak as he stood, helping Keith up in the process.

Her face softened as she surveyed the two boys, or more, men. Lance had definitely leaned out and grew to be nearly a head taller than Keith, who sadly never grew another inch. Lance still had his signature hair cut, just slightly longer. He was beginning to grow stubble again and Pidge hoped to whatever sentient being that he wouldn’t let it grow out like he had a few months ago. Keith had remained the most unchanged, only cutting his hair slightly shorter so his mullet wasn’t as noticeable.

But it was their facial expressions that caught Pidge’s attention. They both seemed sad but content. She didn’t press them, not wanting to get into their business, but she could tell they had just had a rather emotional conversation. And she had a likely idea of what the conversation was about.

“So,” Lance began as she inspected Pidge’s bag of food, “What are you packing for? Another gaming session?”

Pidge shook her head as she looked Lance in the eyes, “I’m leaving.”

Lance blinked, stunned for a moment, “Leaving?”

Keith Joined them, standing next to Lance, “Leaving to where?”

Pidge grinned, “Earth.”

Both boys eyes widened, but before they could ask anything else, Pidge proposed an idea.

“Hunk and I are leaving in a few minutes. Are you coming with?”

With not even a second though, Lance nodded his head vigorously, “I’ll help do whatever I can to prepare.”

Pidge offered him a kind smile before turning her attention to Keith who still wore a surprised expression. She began to feel her previous worry surface again and hoped her friend wouldn’t prove her fear correct. What if Keith tried to stop her?

“Keith?”

Keith swallowed a lump in his throat as he went over the situation. This could land everyone in danger. This whole thing was so risky, and as the oldest at 21, he felt he should be the voice of reason. But seeing how sad Lance was just moments ago, he couldn’t bare to see his friends like that again.

Keith was struggling with a mental battle. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he compared various outcomes of this plan. Ultimately he came to the conclusion, if he didn’t go then he wouldn’t be able to stop them from going without him. And like hell is he going to let the closest people in his life leave without him there to make sure they were okay.

“Okay,” Keith finally said, “I’ll go.”

Pidge and Lance broke out a wide smile. All four of them were going back to earth. It was going to happen. With all four of them together, the plan was nearly fool proof.

Xxx

After packing up their belongings along with some food and water, Pidge led Lance and Keith to the lion hangars where Hunk was patiently waiting. As the three entered the room the yellow paladin rose from his seat, clearly a bit nervous as they all were. They were about to disobey orders from Shiro and Allura. The two had become much more harsh and cruel towards the paladins over the past two years regardless of what Coran tried to reason with them, causing the four to close off from them and form their own clique. It was hardest on Keith considering he and Shiro were always so close, but he felt like more of a disappointment to Shiro than a brother.

The thought of disobeying them never crossed their minds because it just wasn’t worth the weeks of mental torment they would give. Challenging them Like Lance had with visiting earth was a feat on it’s own. God forbid they disagreed.

They felt more like prisoners than paladins.

But they all held focus in their eyes. They were going to do this, and no one will stop them.

Pidge dropped her bags on the floor with the other boys following her. She whipped open her laptop and began typing away. Hunk and Lance looked over her shoulder curiously as Keith stood watch next to Lance.

“So do you have have a plan?” Lance asked, “I think it goes without saying we can’t take the lions.”

Pidge nodded, “We’re going to take a pod. I’m reprogramming one right now so we can conceal our coordinates along with overriding the castles defense system so it doesn’t alert anyone.”

Lance nodded, “Smart girl.”

The younger girl grinned, “What else would you expect?”

“Guys,” Keith interrupted their conversation, “We need to hurry this up. It’s getting too close to wake up time.”

Pidge’s grin faded into a firm line as she typed faster. In a matter of minutes, she was slamming her laptop shut and standing to face the three boys behind her.

“All done?” Hunk asked hopefully.

“Yes but we only have five doboshes to leave before the castle defenses are up and running again,” Pidge yanked her back pack on her shoulders while grabbing hold of the bag of food and handing it to Hunk, “Let’s get going.”

Everyone obeyed, grabbing their own bags. The pod they were taking was one Pidge had modified a few weeks ago. Much to Shiro’s displeasure, Pidge had added a rocket launcher and a few other things such as cloaking and some special weapons to protect itself. It was perfect.

As they headed to the pod, they all passed their lions with sad eyes. Even though Shiro and Allura had been ruthless, the lions were still ever calming and were probably the only reason the four of them hadn’t left sooner. The lions always had a way of soothing their minds when things got too rough. Like when Allura had laid into Lance for screwing up formation in an air show or when Shiro ignored Pidge for a week because she hadn’t stayed back during a dangerous mission. The lions knew them better than they knew themselves it seemed.

Knowing they were short on time, each paladin sent a reassuring nudge to the quintessence of their lions. It wasn’t much but it’s all they had. They all received the same wave of worry and concern from their respective lions but none of them wavered.

Everyone stopped in front of the pod with three minutes left. Wasting no time, Pidge yanked open the top of the pod with a grunt and hoisted herself inside. 

“Alright, I’m going to need to be controlling things through my laptop,” Pidge settled herself in one of the back seats of the crowded pod with her laptop in hand, “So who’s driving?”

“I will,” Keith said quickly earning him a glare from Lance. As much as the younger boy would love to argue to show up Keith, his brain told him this was not the time.

The blue paladin accepted the arrangements and took a seat in the passenger seat beside Keith, Hunk behind him. Once the team was set up, they had a minute and 30 seconds before the castle defenses were up and running.

“Alright Pidge,” Keith said, grabbing hold of the controls as the ship came to life, “We ready to go?”

After a few clicks on her laptop, a door opened on their right showing the vast emptiness of space. Keith took a deep breathe, preparing himself for everything he was about to get himself into. He thought about how he was going to betray Shiro, the person he once called a brother. He thought back to his time in the Galaxy Garrison with the older man as his idol. He thought to their long nights on the roof as they discussed their lives and everything they missed and hoped for. How could he do that to him?

But looking to his right, he looked into the deep blue eyes of a boy he’d fallen for in the past years. He’d never fully accepted it, nor had he ever let anyone find out about it, but after his brotherly figure disappeared into whatever he could be described as, he had grown closer to the cuban boy beside him. His late night talks with Shiro had turned into late night talks with Lance. Mainly about the war, nothing personal, but when they did speak about life outside of the ship and the war, it felt so natural. Keith loved it.

But he hated the sadness that often clouded Lance’s eyes. He hated the way Shiro and Allura had taken charge of them. He hated the way they’ve lived the past few years. He hated knowing his family wasn’t happy.

He was going to do this, to make them happy again.

Keith looked forward and pulled on the controls in his hand, pulling the ship off of the ground. Once the ships was floating in air, he turned to face the door. With 45 seconds left, he turned to face everyone. He didn’t need to say anything. He didn’t need to ask them if they were sure, if they were ready. They all gave him a nod of approval which he took as the good to go. 

Then the ship was speeding through space, away from the castle which held yesterdays sadness. No one spoke, too wrapped up in their own mind. No one shared their emotions, but it wasn’t hard to feel it.

They were excited, but terrified. It’d been three years since they’d seen anyone from earth. How did they know everything was still as they thought it was? What if they were forgotten?

“So,” Keith said, breaking the silence, “Do we know where we’re going? I don’t want to pilot us in the opposite direction.”

“Yeah just…” Pidge stuck her tongue out of the corner of her closed mouth as she tried to put together some coordinates, “give me a sec.”

It took everything in Hunks power not to snicker and call her cute, which he knew would only piss her off. But what else are friends for?

“There!” She cheered as the windowed pod lit up with directions to planet earth, “We should be there in about three quintants.”

The three boys groaned at her time estimation.

“Three?” Lance complained as he turned to face Pidge in his seat, “I can’t be stuck in a tiny pod for three quintants.”

“I gotta agree with Lance,” Hunk chimed in, “Is there anyway to speed that up?”

“Guys,” Keith added nervously, “There’s not much we can do about the timing. We’re going to have to take what we can get.”

Keith knew that everyone was emotional about visiting earth and was afraid to overstep any boundaries. He never was a people person. But Lance and Hunk both seemed to agree with him as they slunk back into their seats.

“Well,” Pidge began typing away again, “If we use that booster I added, then we will be able to get there faster. The only issue is we’d go through fuel rapidly and will need to stop at nearby planets to refill the pod a few times.”

“Uh,” Hunk pointed his finger in the air, “I think you’re also forgetting about when you put one of those boosters in a pod before.”

“Yeah, Lance said turning around again, “It nearly blew up Keith and Allura. What if it backfires again?”

“But I survived,” Keith said with a grin that Pidge was grateful for.

“Yeah Lance,” Pidge crossed her arms with a smug look, “He survived. And besides I thought you two were the ones who wanted to get to earth faster.”

“Yeah! If it doesn’t turn me into space soup!” Lance exclaimed.

“I think you’re forgetting something Mister Lancelot,” Keith took enjoyment in the glare the boy shot him, “That was three years ago. Our residential genius has made this upgrade to various other pods that have all been successful. She did this pod just a few weeks ago.”

“We’ll be fine,” Pidge added, trying to sooth Hunk and Lance’s worry.

Lance sighed defeated, “Alright alright, you’re right.”

Keith smiled at Lance’s acceptance. He was always a terrible leader, but when Shiro had practically abandoned them as a friend, Keith had taken up the role. It took some time but he got the hang of it. He’d often come up with better plans on missions that, yes, got them in trouble with Shiro and Allura, but they were almost always more efficient. He’d learned how to handle Lance, Hunk, and Pidge in nearly every scenario.

Pidge smiled, “Then our trip will be cut from three quintants to one and half.”

“That’s better than three,” Hunk agreed.

“Then it’s settled,” Keith looked at his directions that pidge had given him, “We’ll engage the booster and stop at the next planet to refuel. Which is… Tyla. Home of the Tylarians.”

“Tylarians,” Hunk asked with a raised eyebrow, “Aren't they those music fanatics?”

“They sound peaceful,” Lance said as he looked at the planets location on the map.

“That’s our next stop. Pidge, “Keith attracted Pidge's attention, “Let’s get that booster up and running.”

“You got it,” Pidge said with a devious grin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk make it to planet Tyla and Shiro and Allura discover the missing Paladins.
> 
> WARNING: Vulgar language (cussing) will appear in this chapter.

Coran watched from the bridge as the pod holding four paladins of Voltron stormed away from the Altean castle. As prepared as the team usually is, the video feeds for the castle were still intact, and Coran had been expecting something like this.

He had watched from the sidelines as Lance sluggishly made his way to the kitchen. He had witnessed his small make up with Keith and their interruption from Pidge. He had seen Hunk nervously stand in the lion hangars as he prepared to leave with his friends. He smiled proudly as Keith second guessed his decision before finally piloting the four towards where their happiness lied.

And Coran had done nothing to stop it.

He had secretly hoped the young paladins would stick up for themselves, or at least do something to make themselves happy again. Coran had become less of a voice of reason to Princess Allura and more a distant annoyance over the past three years. Once a trusted guidance, now not even a second thought. It had hurt more than a stab to the heart, but Coran was a grown man who could handle himself. He knew the princess would come around in time once she’d realized she was in the wrong.

It was when she and the black paladin had began shoving disinterest on their team mates that Coran became more vocal about the issue. Often times, pointing out the two on their faults when they wouldn’t listen to reason. He’d try to tell them to calm their harsh words or simply try listening, yet it was only getting worse. 

First he saw Pidge close off. The green paladin wasn’t really close to anyone, her search for her missing family always took first priority. But then her desires to rescue her most likely dead family became too much of a hassle for the two leaders of Voltron. When she stoped sharing her opinions, Coran had noticed. When she began sleeping less and less, when she barely touched her plates of food, when she became sluggish in training, Coran noticed. That was the first push.

Then it was Hunk. He was normally the first to always point out bad ideas, which were a natural occurrence. But when Hunk’s worries were cast aside only to be proven correct in battle, the yellow paladin began to lose his trust in the people he once looked up to. That was when scattered mixing bowls and used utensils appeared in the early hours of the morning. That was when Coran noticed another young paladin spending the night awake. That was the second push.

Next it was Lance. The happy-go-lucky teen had slowly disappeared into practically nothing. He was like a hollow shell trying to imitate some form of himself in the past only to be pushed away for only being what he thought his true self was. And it certainty wasn’t fooling Coran. The boy was losing himself and only seemed to get a scrap of it back every time he engaged Keith in some time of recognizable fight, often ending with both of them scolded harshly. That was the third push.

Keith, surprisingly the last one, was a slow process. Always usually untrusting and cold towards others. The one person he’d even allowed himself to get close too was Shiro who was the one pushing him away. To have your one support system throw you to the side was not only heart breaking to feel, but to watch. Then Keith began to suffer in battle. Fear began to overcome his mind more than instinct. He was afraid to take risks in fear that the last thread of a bond he and Shiro had would fray away from his inability to follow set directions. That had been the last push.

They had been formed and molded to fit an impossible shape by Allura and Shiro’s cold words and harsh punishments. They had shaved away their personality and and smoothed away their dents of unique qualities no one else possessed. They became pieces of a game to be moved around as if replaceable.

Pidge’s defiance.

Hunk’s caution.

Lance’s humor.

Keith’s strength.

It was all being taken away.

Coran had enough.

He was grateful the younger paladins had formed their own bond and had managed not to lose their own sense of who they were. He began to see sparks of their true colors peak out from the mask they’d created when they were together. 

He saw Lance take Pidge to bed when she had finally passed out from exhaustion, and he could have sworn he didn’t see the blue paladin leave her room until the next morning.

He had seen Hunk make something similar to pancakes from earth and brought the fluffy food to his friends in the morning to convince them to wake up to another day.

He had seen Pidge creating a program to replicate the clear blue skies of earth onto the blank white ceilings of their bedrooms.

He had seen Keith give his fellow paladins pats on the back for work well done, something Shiro had been lacking in.

And he couldn’t bare to see these kids who he’d seen grow up too fast lose anymore of themselves due to the mistreatment of two people.

“Please,” Coran spoke out to the stars, “Keep them safe. Give me strength to fix this, King Alfor.”

Xxx

After a few hours of flying with the booster, the planet of Tyla came into view. Keith sighed in relief that the planet was so close. He had been worried about running out of fuel for past few miles, and there was a mysterious light that had popped up about 10 minutes before that gave Keith a bad feeling.

Behind him, Hunk and Pidge were playing a game on the girls laptop that had both of their attention. They started about two hours ago and hadn’t stopped. It must be a good game to keep them entertained for so long. 

Keith couldn’t help looking beside him to take in the sleeping boy with his head hanging down to his chest. Keith felt his lips curl upwards. Lance was finally able to get some rest.

As Keith entered the atmosphere of the planet, both Pidge and Hunk abandoned their game to look over the shoulders of Keith and Lance. The landscape was stunning, with brightly colored plants that look like fluffy trees and bushes. It reminded Hunk of cotton candy. 

“We’re here,” Keith said as he maneuvered the ship towards the ground.

The ship settled just outside a small town in the forrest of pinks and blues. The paladins looked on in wonder at just how amazing the the sight was. The entire planet looked like a landscape of candy, with licorice vines and soda pop ponds. If Pidge was desperate enough, she might have mistook the forrest for a buffet.

Keith unbuckled his seatbelt and turned towards the back seats, stretching his torso in the process, “We need to pick up some fuel, and get out of here as soon as possible. I don't want anyone here recognizing us.”

Hunk nodded as she and Pidge both unbuckled their own seatbelts, “That would immediately give away our location.”

Lance shuffled in his sleep beside Keith which made him lower his voice in consideration for his sleeping friend, “Can you guys handle getting the fuel? I need to check the engine on the pod to make sure it’s good to go for another few Vargas.”

“Sure thing,” Pidge said digging through her bag.

The green paladin pulled out some of the money Coran had given her for their last trip at the space mall along with a small device that Hunk and Keith looked at with curiosity.

“What’s that for?”Hunk asked as he inspected the item in the girls hand that looked similarly to a cell phone.

“I was talking to Lance a few weeks ago about earth,” everyone smiled sadly at the mention of their home planet, “and we decided to try to replicate some earth technology. This,” she said as she raised the object in her hand, “is basically like a cell phone. It can text and call, only to the other cell phone which Lance has at the moment, and take pictures.”

The boys smiled in amusement as Pidge showed them the various test text messages between her and Lance during their creation process, “Since he’s asleep, I want to take pictures of the planet so he can see it too.”

Hunk patted the girl on the back, “That’s a great idea.”

Hunk and Pidge exited the pod with Keith following, careful not to wake Lance. They all stood on a purple ground with light green plants looking like grass beginning to poke through. Through the slits in the trees, the team could see lingering aliens with pink skin heading to and from shops. The species that inhabited the planet were known for being extremely beautiful in body and voice. They loved music and often had it playing at all times. It was a major part of their culture.

After stepping outside, Pidge pulled down the sleeves of her green sweatshirt, “Holy shit it’s cold!”

“Try not to stay out there too long,” Keith warned as he opened the back hatch to look at the over heated engine, “There was some type of warning light that turned out about 10 doboshes ago and I have a feeling it has to do with the engine. I might end up needing Hunk’s help.”

“You could ask Lance while I’m gone,” Hunk suggested, but looked regretful as he glanced over at the sleeping boy.

“I would but I don't really want to wake him,” Keith responded, “I don't think he’s had a decent nights sleep in a long time.”

“If he’s lucky enough to fall asleep then I don't want to take it from him,” Pidge said as she turned to the town with her hood covering her face, “We’ll make it quick.”

Pidge began walking towards the town as Keith nodded to Hunk to follow. The bigger boy gave a small smile back as he pulled up his own yellow hood to hide his face. Once they were a good distance away, Keith allowed himself to tear his gaze away from his friends. He regretted not being able to join them but someone needed to stay with the pod and the person sleeping inside. He trusted Pidge and Hunk, but his paranoia got the best of him when he imagined someone managing to notice their distinct features that nearly everyone in the galaxy had come to know belong to the paladins of Voltron. 

They couldn’t afford to come so far only to be discovered so soon.

As Keith examined the engine he could tell it was clearly over heated, likely due to the thrusters Pidge installed being in use for too long. The only solution he could think of to prevent this is to only use the thrusters in small increments. But how could to cool down the engine now so they could take off again was a mystery.

As Keith stared into the hatch trying to come up with a solution, he heard the sound of the pod opening, then he heard the footsteps. Worry filled his mind as his chest constricted. Thousands of possibilities flashed through his consciousness. 

_Someone is ransacking us._

_Shiro and Allura have found us._

_Pidge and Hunk forgot something._

Keith closed the hatch to the engine, silently stepping to the edge of the pod. Peering around the side, Keith was relieved only to see Lance facing away from him.

The red paladin sighed with relief, “Jeeze Lance, you scared…” Keith lost his words as Lance turned to face him. He almost looked like he didn’t see Keith, looking right through him.

He only had a moment to realize what was happening. He hadn’t time to prepare. Suddenly he was on the ground with the cuban boy who had his hands wrapped around Keith’s neck with wild, terrified eyes.

Xxx

Hunk and Pidge stared in awe at the town they were walking through. The whole planet was beautiful, even the shops were brightly colored with detail. The fountains spurted out various shades of blue goo that looked almost like water, or jello, Hunk couldn’t quite tell. 

They kept their hoods up as they walked side by side, keeping their gaze downwards towards the map they had gathered. 

“Okay so the equivalent to a gas station should be to the right at that next crossing,” Hunk determined.

Pidge nodded quickly, “Yeah, and guess what’s right next door?”

Hunk leaned into Pidge’s space a bit more to take a look at the map, “Hm? What is it?”

The girl looked up to her friend with a devious grin, “A shop dedicated to Earth items.”

Hunk looked at her quizzically, “Earth? Why here?”

Pidge shrugged her shoulders as both her and Hunk turned right, “My guess is with Voltron being universally known by now, everyone knows about the Human paladins from Earth.”

Hunk brought his hands to his chin as he thought, “So now everyone is fanatic about Earth things?”

“Basically,” Pidge said as she halted in front of their destination, “Alright let’s get some fuel.”

Both wanted to get in and out as quick as possible, paying for a few gallons of fuel, and exiting without anyone getting a glimpse of their faces. They’d gathered a few weird looks, considering they were covered head to toe, but they shook it off.

By the time they both made it back outside, only five minutes had passed.

“Alright,” Pidge said and she checked the time, “I say we have some time to check out the earth shop.”

It didn’t take much to convince Hunk to go with her.

As they entered, the nostalgia hit them like a brick. Where as the other shops in the town had a look and feel distinct to the planet with bright colors and candy looking scenery, this shop looked and felt like they were walking into Earth.  
Hunk never thought he’d miss dully colored carpet and cramped shelves so much. It was obvious this store was trying to replicate Earth’s culture as best as possible, and Pidge couldn’t help but realize they’d gathered most of their replications off of an Earth store called Game Stop.

The two glanced around, taking interest in the movies they’s watched as children that they hadn’t been able to find anywhere. Hunk picked up a copy of Forest Gump while Pidge grabbed a series collection of Friends. They even grabbed The Princess Bride for Lance and Karate Kid for Keith.

Pidge had to really resist the urge to buy all of the Super Mario games.

As they got closer to the back of the store, something caught Hunks eye. The back wall was covered in images he knew all too well. There were posters of a giant robot. Black, red, green, blue, and yellow lions forming Voltron. There were giant images of himself, standing next to yellow, with a dull smile. He could spot Pidge’s own candid poster next his. Lance’s near the other end with Keith’s. Shiro’s own in the center.

He remembered this. The photo shoot to help spread their image. The photoshoot no one but Shiro wanted to take part of. The photoshoot that took place as the Galra attacked a neighboring planet. The photoshoot that caused them to be late to the scene ending with many innocent lives dead.

Yet the people cheered.

They _cheered._

They _praised_ them.

They were crowned heroes and put on a pedestal when they were late.

They could have saved so many more lives.

But they were late.

Because of a damn _photoshoot._

“Are you finding everything okay?” Hunk was jostled from his thoughts as he faced one of the pink aliens that inhabited the planet.

Hunk cleared his throat attempting to clear his throat, “Yeah! Yeah, just… looking.”

The Tylarian, who Hunk presumed male, admired the posters Hunk stood in front of, “They’re really neat huh? Voltron, Defender of the Universe.”

Hunk couldn’t help but cringe. Neat? They were barely managing to stay sane.

“Yeah,” Hunk chocked out, “Pretty cool.”

“I even have a signed copy if you’re interested. I got the blue paladin to sign one, almost got the red one’s too.”

Hunk shook his head, “Nah I don't have the money right now, but thanks anyway.”

Hunk shot him his a smile as he turned to leave, but stopped when he heard the gasp.

“You’re…” The Tylarian began as he stuttered his sentence, “t-the yellow…”

Hunk eyes widened. He’d blown it, “Nope! Gotta go!” 

Hunk dashed towards the exit, grabbing Pidge in the process. He held their purchased fuel in one hand and the tiny female between his side and arm.

“Hunk!!! Put me down! What’s going on!”

Hunk didn’t stop as he turned corners and ran through confused crowded. He hoped to god the guy thought he was imagining things. He hoped Voltron wouldn’t hear of it. He hoped he hadn’t screwed everything up.

Hunk didn’t slow down until he’d made it into the cotton candy looking forest. Setting Pidge down, he finally caught his breath. His eyes were wide with fear at what he might have just done. 

Pidge stared at him with worry, “Hunk?”

The yellow paladin took a few more deep breathes, “He recognized me.”

It didn’t take any more explanation for Pidge to understand. She gave him an understanding nod, “Alright, we should head out of here fast.”

Both headed towards the ship where Keith and Lance were in a haste. 

Xxx

Keith struggled under the hold of Lance’s hands, secretly surprised with the boys strength. He’d been at this end of Lance’s anger before, but only during training. It seemed to slip his mind that Lance was likely going easy on him in fear of actually injuring him.

But he could tell by looking in Lance’s eyes that this wasn’t really Lance, not the Lance they all knew. This Lance was terrified, and losing it fast.

Keith tightened his hands around Lances white knuckles, trying to pry them off of his neck so he didn’t lose the ability to breath. Lance’s eyes were wide as his pupils dashed around his vision. 

“Where are they?!” Lance’s voice sounded strained.

Keith managed to loosen Lance’s grip slightly enough to breath but still remained trapped under the boys hold.

“Where’s who?”

Lance’s scoffed, as he looked at Keith but still seemingly not really seeing him, “Don’t play dumb with me Galra.”

Keith felt the pain through his chest once again as the spite in Lance’s voice drove the blade deeper. He thought they were done with this. He thought everyone was done with this. He thought everyone had accepted his heritage and moved on.

He couldn’t help the tears that tried to surface.

“Lance stop it!” Keith shouted.

“Not until you tell me where they are!”

Keith groaned in irritation,”Where who are, god damn it!?” 

“What do you mean who?!” Lance’s eyes turned even darker if that was possible.

Then Keith began to fear for his life. 

The red paladin, for the first time in what felt like forever, reacted on instinct, not quite thinking through the situation. He threw all of his weight up and around to ram Lance’s body into the ground. This time Keith was on top, attempting to grab hold of Lance hands making their way towards Keith’s burning neck once more.

“Give them back you fucking purple skinned bastard!”

Keith managed to pin Lance’s hands firmly into the ground, but that didn’t stop him from trying to break out of the grasp. Keith held his knees on Lance’s elbows and sat himself on the boys stomach.

“Who?! Give who back?!”

“My friends! Keith! Hunk! Pidge!”

_What?_

“Lance, I’m right here! I’m Keith!”

Lance’s eyes darted around, still not seeing Keith. It was then that Keith realized what was going on.

“Lance, you’re dreaming!”

Lance grunted as he fought Keith’s hold. He let out a tiny sob that broke Keith’s heart. The boy was fighting so hard against a Galra in his mind for his friends. He never knew he meant that much to him.

“Lance, please,” Keith began speaking softly, “I’m right here. _I'm_ Keith.”

Lance’s fighting began to die down as his eyes became more focused. He blinked a few times as he stilled under Keith’s grasp. Finally, Lance looked at Keith, and actually saw the boy on top of him.

“Keith?”

The older boy let out a nervous laugh before pulling Lance into a hug. He could resist the urge to hold the boy close, for just a minute. He was happy to feel Lance encircle him as well.

“What happened?” Lance whispered in Keith’s shoulder.

“You were dreaming. It was a nightmare,” one that Keith felt might have happened quite frequently.

Lance’s body tensed, “I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” Keith let go of their hold so he could look at Lance as he spoke, “That’s not your fault. You can’t control it.”

Lance nodded, but gasped when he saw the darkening marks on Keith’s neck, “Did I… hurt you?”

Keith’s hand instinctively went to lightly touch his neck, “It’s not bad. Don’t worry about it.”

But he could already see Lance blaming himself. He could practically feel the self hatred radiating off his friend.

“Lance, it’s okay. Really.”

He knew Lance wouldn’t accepted his words right away. He’d likely hold it against himself for a long time, no matter what Keith said. But he couldn't stand to see the boy he was falling for hating himself.

Before either of them had a chance to say much else, Pidge and Hunk came barreling into the small clearing the pod had landed in. Hunk immediately went to refill the fuel as Pidge carelessly threw their bags in to the pod.

“We, need to go. _Now._ ”

Keith and Lance didn’t waste any time entering the Pod again. Each member buckled up, as Keith pulled the pod off of the planet’s purple ground. In a matter of minutes the pod was back into space. Only then did Keith begin to question the other two.

“Did something happen?”

Hunk sighed, “I got recognized.”

Keith cursed under his breathe, “Hopefully it won’t get to Voltron. And if it does, hopefully it takes some time.”

He heard Hunk murmur some kind of response but couldn’t ask him what he said before Pidge gasped, “Keith what the hell happened to your neck?”

Keith cursed himself for not trying to conceal his injury with his jacket. out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lance curling in on himself as he glared at his shoes. Keith’s heart ached at seeing the boy so upset. He wished he had more time to talk to him about the incident, but figured he would want to do that privately.

Keith gave a silent sign to Pidge to drop it, which thankfully she did. 

“Okay,” Keith began, “So we can’t use the thrusters as much as before, so our trip as gone up to 2 quintents. Which is still better than 3.”

He heard sounds of understanding from behind him, but silence from besides him. This was going to be a long ride.

Xxx

When Shiro awoke to silence in the castle, we wasn’t surprised. The castle was meant to be quiet. When he entered the kitchen and saw no one there, he wasn’t surprised. No one had attended a family meal in over a year. When he approached the bridge and only saw Allura, he wasn’t surprised. He didn’t normally see the team until training.

It was after Allura had announced over the castle comm system for every paladin to head to the training center that Shiro was surprised.

It was when even after 20 minutes, no one showed up, that he got mad.

It was after Allura had called each paladin individually that she got furious.

It was when they stormed through the castle looking for everyone when Shiro felt panic begin to form in his chest.

It was when they found out about the missing pod that that panic was replaced with unrelenting anger.

“Coran!” Allura shouted down hallways as she searched anywhere for the missing Paladins, “Have you seen the Paladins?!”

“Hm?” Coran exited one of the rooms down the hallway the Princess happened to be searching.

“The Paladins, Coran! Where are they?!” Allura grabbed at her hair in frustration.

She and Shiro had attempted to track the missing pod, but to no avail. They couldn’t even begin to imagine where the four could be. Their hope that they had just decided to blow off training had diminished the later into the day it got. They had mange to vanish without a trace. Allura's patience began to thin, much to Shiro's displeasure. He had been sure that the four would return in due time, trying to convince the princess to wait it out. When they returned, they would have a talking to. Allura was not in the mood to wait around. The princess had scoured the hall ways, looking for the only other person who she hadn't seen all day. But even finding him became a challenge. 

“The Paladins?” Coran asked again, “You mean the four other members of the Voltron team.”

Allura, beginning to get annoyed with her advisor, snapped at his sarcastic tone, “Yes Coran! The red, blue, green, and yellow paladins!”

“Oh, you mean Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk?”

Allura paused for a moment, trying process his words, before returning to her anger, “Yes! Have you seen them?!”

Coran swiftly turned away from the princess, walking away with no answer to the questions. The princess clenched her fists as she stormed up to the red headed Altean. Her hand grabbed his shoulder as she forced him to face her.

Coran was suddenly face to face with a red faced monster, “Answer me this instant! You know something!”

Coran remained calm as he removed her hand from his shoulder, “You had to think about it.”

Allura, beginning to tire of his act, threw her hands in the air, “Please Coran, just give me a straight answer!”

Coran glared at the Princess in front of him who he once thought to be the most thoughtful woman in the land, “You had to _think_ about their _names._ ”

And then he left, leaving a confused princess in his path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this chapter please leave me a comment!!! You have no idea how much it helps :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge make it to Corian, the last stop before Earth. Shiro and Allura start to realize things.

The next 24 hours were nearly impossible for the group of soldiers in the tiny pod headed for earth. They were over half way to their destination and they were more than ready to feel the steady ground beneath their feet again. It didn’t take a genius to notice the tense shoulders and restless bodies that occupied the seats. 

The stash of movies from the earth store had been depleted just hours before, leaving everyone to their own devices.

Keith rolled his shoulders with a light sigh as he shook sleep from his mind.

Hunks shaking leg rocked the pod slightly but no one had the heart to tell him to stop.

Pidge’s constant clicking on her keyboard filled the empty sound with something other than the beeps from the navigation devise.

Lance remained silent in thought, just as he had for the majority of the flight since they left Tyla. Much to Keiths displeasure, Lance refused to sleep after the incident that neither of the boys have had a chance to talk about. 

Keith glanced in the reflecting glass to examine his bruised neck once more. He wished it would disappear but as time passed the wound only grew more noticeable. Luckily, neither Hunk or Pidge decided to bring it up again after his silent warning. He began to wonder what exactly Lance was dreaming about. He had thought his friends were taken by Galra, what exactly went down in that dream of his?

“Keith,” Pidge’s gently voice broke him out of his mind. The boy realized he had been going significantly slower as he blinked the foggy feeling from his eyes.

“Huh? What is it?” He asked the girl giving him a worried looked as he returned to a faster speed.

“We’re approaching the planet Cario in the next mile,” She announced as she pointed to the small dot, “This should be our last stop before Earth.”

Keith nodded in understanding and soon the pod was easing into the planets atmosphere. Unlike Tyla, which was brightly colored and welcoming, Cario looked nearly deserted. The dirt rose up from the ground in dust clouds attacking the dead wood and rocks. It reminded Hunk too much of the Arizona desert that the Galaxy Garison resided in.

The pod landed on the dull ground ungracefully, causing the passengers to jerk froward in reaction.

“Nice driving, Keith,” Pidge said jokingly.

Keith groaned as he rubbed his eyes with his palms and grabbed at the bridge of his nose, “Sorry guys.”

Pidge’s smile disappeared as she leaned into the front half of the pod, “You’re not looking too good Keith.”

Lance, who hadn’t done much besides gaze out the window the entire ride, whipped his head to face the raven haired boy. Keith, secretly relieved Lance had done something after remaining still for so long, had to try not to acknowledge his behavior in fear the boy would close off again.

“I’m fine, Pidge,” Keith waved her off as he turned to face everyone.

“Don’t lie to me. I’m relentless,” Pidge threatened earning a scoff from Hunk.

“Ain’t that the truth,” He and Pidge shared an amused look.

“Really guys, I’m fine-“ Keith began but, much to everyone’s surprise, was cut off by Lance.

“You’re not fine,” Keith couldn’t help but feel happy to see the familiar glare from Lance’s eyes.

Anything resembling Lance was a good sign.

“Neither are you two,” Lance added sending an accusing look to the other passengers of in the pod.

“Blasphemy!” Pidge shouted.

“None of you have slept for at least two days,” Lance declared with a guilty tone, “For the remainder of this trip, I will be piloting us and the rest of you will be getting some rest.”

There were multiple shouts of protest. Each of which Lance took with stride.

“Listen, I already got some beauty sleep and this,” Lance gestured to himself, “Is up and running for business.”

Keith eyed Lance, noticing the way the boy’s face looked almost forced. He could see Lance mimicking the same routine. He’d made the same comment about sleep at least four times in the last two weeks. It was almost as if he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Like he was only reusing the same lines.

It was the same with his pick up lines that they rarely heard anymore.

And his excuses to Shiro and Allura for following Keiths orders rather than their own.

It was the same damn lines over and over again.

He had a mask placed on his face, and he’d secured it with a fake him from years ago.

Who was the real him?

“I’m not going to sit back and let you run yourselves into the ground,” Lance said strongly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Keith couldn’t argue with him though. Looking at Pidge and Hunk made him come face to face with what the consequences of their actions were. Pidge had dark bags under her eyes and extremely disheveled hair. Hunk was clearly getting antsy as if he was trying to keep himself moving to stay awake. And Keith was barely keeping his heavy eyelids open.

With a sigh, Keith nodded his head, “Okay, we’ll rest.”

“Um, _you’ll_ rest,” Pidge said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, “I have work to do.”

“Oh yeah?” Lance smirked, “How are you gonna do work without a laptop?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow, but before she could question Lance, her laptop was snatched from her lap.

“Lance!” She shouted as she tried to reach her beloved technology with laughter from the other two boys filling the empty silence.

“You’ll get this back after you sleep Pidgey.”

Pidge groaned, “I thought I told you to stop calling me that.”

Lance pouted as he hid the girls laptop in his own bag, “But it’s so cute! You’re like a little Pokemon!”

“You’re too obsessed with that game, Lance,”Hunk chuckled as he pulled out some more money.

“You would be too if you actually gave it chance!” Lance exclaimed as he kneeled on his seat. His face shone with excitement as he spoke which warmed Keiths heart. This was one of the rare times he felt like Lance was being himself. He felt like he could see a true smile on the blue paladins face.

“I mean, Squirtle was the best!”

Keith scoffed beside him,” Of course you’d say that! He’s a water type!”

“Well _duh_ , that’s what makes him _better_ ,” Lance said with an eye roll that made Pidge and Hunk struggle to hold back their laughter.

“Charmander is by far the coolest Pokemon,” Keith said with a smirk, taking in the beauty that was Lance. The passion the boy had for things he cared about always left Keith in awe.

“Of course you’d pick Charmander, you’re the red paladin.” Lance said with a chuckle “But everyone picks Charmander.”

“I wouldn’t,” Hunk chimed in, “I’d pick Rhyhorn.”

“Again,” Lance said with a point towards Hunk, “expected, but not entirely disappointing. A ground type? Really? That just screams yellow paladin.”

“And Squritle doesn’t scream blue paladin?” Keith shot back.

“Guys,” Pidge interrupted even though she enjoyed the conversation, “We should probably get off this planet sooner rather than later.”

“Good point, Pidglett,” Lance said with a determined nod.

“Lance!” Pidge groaned, “Another Pokemon reference!”

“What?!” Lance exclaimed in a defensive stance as the pod erupted in laughter, “You’re tiny like a Diglett!”

“You’re killing me, Lance,” Pidge shook her head with a laugh.

The team decided to switch and send Keith and Lance to retrieve fuel as Pidge and Hunk stayed to check over the pod. As the four exited the pod, Lance stepped away from the other three to stretch out his limbs. Just as fast as Keith’s happiness appeared, it faded at seeing Lance return quiet and distant. The worry in his chest only grew as time passed on, which Hunk seemed to catch on to.

“You okay, buddy?” The yellow paladin stood beside Keith who was staring at Lance’s back with an arm settling on the smaller boys shoulder.

“Yeah,” Keith nodded, “Just worried about him.”

Hunk nodded, “Did something…?”

Hunk trailed off, causing Keith to look at at the taller boy. Hunk was eyeing his newly bruised neck with worried. Keith instinctively pulled at his jacket to cover the marks again.

“Did someone attack you guys?” Hunk asked carefully.

“I guess you could say that…” Keith practically whispered as his gaze fell to the ground.

“Well you don’t have to tell me right now,” Hunk said with a pat on the back, “But keep us in the loop okay? We’re worried.”

Keith looked at Hunk once more and saw the love and care in his eyes. Keith almost wanted to tell Hunk right then and there everything that happened in the woods, but he couldn’t bring it up to someone else without talking to Lance about it first.

“Hey don’t worry big guy,” Keith grinned, “We’re in this together. I just need to talk to lover boy about the situation before I bring it up to everyone.”

Keith felt the tension leave Hunk’s body as he loosened his grip on Keith’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Keith,” Hunk said with one more smile before heading back to the pod with Pidge, leaving Keith to head out with Lance.

Keith approached the boy staring out towards the desert at the small town they were about to visit. By the time Keith had made it beside Lance, the boy had yet to notice him. The raven haired boy cleared his throat to alert the other of his presence only to earn himself a slight jump from the other party.

“Whoa, you good?” Keith asked with worry tinging his voice.

“What? Yeah I’m great!” Lance said with obviously forced enthusiasm as he clasped his hands together to rest behind his head.

“Then let’s get going,” Keith suggested as he began the trek to the closest town, Lance following behind him. 

It was awkward, and that was understatement. Keith could feel the tension in the air. He knew he should bring it up, but he was terrified that it would only anger Lance. In the past, Lance was usually easy to talk to, unless it had to do with deeply personal matters, like his family on Earth. This wasn’t a deeply personal matter, but Keith wasn’t sure if he was willing to take the chance of Lance hating him.

“You know,” Lance suddenly spoke up,” I can practically hear you thinking.”

_Thank god for Lance and his urge to speak._

Keith sighed as he gave Lance a sad look, “Are you okay?”

Lance gave Keith a look in disbelief, “You’re asking _me_ that?”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked trying to hide his nerves.

Lance frowned with sadness scrunching his forehead, “You’re the one who was nearly strangled to death. By me.”

His voice was so small as he spoke only making Keith want to hold him and tell him everything was okay. He wanted to kiss away all of Lance’s insecurities. He wanted to remind him that he was loved and cared for. He wanted to tell him that he didn’t hate him, in fact he felt far from it. He wanted to hold his hand and will him to believe his words. He wanted to fight away his nightmares and replace them with sweet dreams of ocean waves.

But he was only a team mate, a friend among friends. He was lucky enough to be considered a friend, and he would take what he could get.

“I understand if you hate me…” Lance trailed off as Keith had yet to answer.

Keith stared at Lance as the boy had an battle in his own mind that he was bound to lose. Without thinking Keith reached for Lance and pulled him into a hug. The younger boy flinched at the unexpected touch. Lance was expecting a punch to the gut at the least for what he’d done. Maybe even the face.

“Why…?” Lance asked reluctantly, slightly afraid of an answer.

“Because you’re an idiot who needs to know he’s loved by his friends,” Keith said with a softer tone than usual. 

He snuggled his chin into Lance’s shoulder when the boy finally wrapped his arms around the half galra’s body.

“So,” Lance began, slightly unsure of himself, “You’re not mad? Even though I attacked you?”

Keith tightened their hold as he thought back to their fight on Tyla, “Lance, I think we both know you weren’t yourself. How could I ever be mad at you for something you couldn’t control?”

“Thank you…” Lance mumbled into Keith’s neck as his grasp on the older boy clothes tightened.

Keith could feel the trembling in Lance’s body, which led to him rubbing the boy’s back. Part of him wanted Lance to finally break down and talk to him. But he knew it took time and likely better conditions than in the middle of a desert on their way to earth for him to open up. So Keith took what he could get and hugged the person he longed for most. 

Xxx

“Have you found anything?” Allura’s voice boomed from the holo deck as she tried to contact various planets.

Shiro and Allura had spent day and night combing through video feeds, written logs, even personal belongings of the missing Paladins to try to find some clue as to where they were. Allura was trying to connect with the Blade of Mamora for help as Shiro read through Pidge’s notebooks filled with scientific codes and and math equations.

“No,” Shiro said with a sigh and he slammed the notebook closed, “I can’t even read Pidge’s handwriting let alone decipher these codes.”

“There must be something!” She shouted as she threw her hands down to her side, “They couldn’t have disappeared out of know where!”

“Maybe we should try asking Coran again,” Shiro suggested as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

Allura laughed with a sarcastic tone, “Yes because the twenty first time asking the fool will work better than then twentieth.”

Shiro groaned, “Well what else can we do?! He obviously knows something so there’s not much else we can do without help!”

Allura stepped down from the holo deck, allowing the holograms to vanish. Her nerves were wearing thin, and she was sure the paladins would hear a mouthful from her when they returned, but until then all of her energy was put into finding the missing team.

The princess stepped towards the pile of Pidge’s notebooks Shiro had been trying to read. Next to the notebooks were a pile of letters between Hunk and Shay, a photo album from Lance’s bedroom, and a box filled with little knickknacks from Keith’s room.

“I don't understand,” Allura’s voice holding a generous amount of annoyance, “How can they have time for this yet still lack in training and missions.

Shiro chose to remain quiet as he picked up one of the many notebooks from Pidge’s room. He handed the green notebook to Allura, “Maybe you’ll have a better chance as understanding these than I did.”

“You over estimate my abilities,” she responded as she crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m the last person to be able to read earth language. I’d be worse off than you were.”

Shiro stared at her in shock, “You can’t read English?”

Allura shook her head slowly as confusion showed on her face, “I just informed you that I don’t. Is that so terrible?”

He voice held a slightly defensive tone that shut down Shiro’s bought of anger, “Nothing, just… never mind.”

Shiro tuned around, getting ready to comb through the other items from the rest of the paladins rooms. He had wanted to drop the conversation, regretting his tone. He hated the look of disgust she wore more time than not. He yearned for a smile or laugh with was as rare as a happy family dinner it seemed. Over time he’d began to fall for this women in robes, a princess of a land from story books. He’d quite honestly do almost anything for her. He couldn’t help but follow her every order, and give her every bit of energy from his so.

But he hated having her anger directed at him. He at least wanted to feel equal, not less. And Shiro could tell now was going to be one of those times.

“I demand you to answer me.” Allura’s strong voice sent a chill down Shiro’s spine.

Shiro, without turning around, reluctantly answered, “You forced everyone else to learn Altean, yet three years go by and you refuse to learn our language.”

Shiro bent down picking up the photo album that he had found from Lance’s room. Turning around, he saw that anger he so desperately hated pointed straight at him.

“We are not on your home planet anymore,” she spoke maliciously, letting each words hit Shiro like a brick, “Learning your language would be a waste of time and efforts.”

“Allura, drop this now,” Shiro warned.

His heart began pounding as he clenched his fist around Lance’s photo album. He wanted so badly to scream at her for insulting his home. He wanted to yell at her for talking badly about his team. He wanted to shout about how hypocritical she was being, yet he’d always remained quiet. His love for her was stronger than his humanity at some times. Yet right now, he felt the seams breaking as his anger boiled over.

“Why should I?” Allura jabbed as she took a step closer, “Do you not like being told your planet is only a minuscule portion of the universe?”

“Or better yet,” she continued with exaggerated hand movements, “Why don’t we just remind you that no one in the galaxy has ever heard of your planet! It’s existence is pointless! When has Earth ever been there for Voltron?!”

“Allura,” Shiro warned once again.

“What Shiro?!” She yelled as she grabbed at her hair in frustration, “You want me to stop speaking the truth?! Earth is only 1/1000th of the galaxy and yet it’s entire existence is forcing this team apart!”

“What are you insinuating, Princess,” Shiro spoke, finally letting his emotions free, “That we should destroy Earth simply because you, the Princess of a planet that’s been destroyed for 10,000 years, feel it’s existence is pointless?”

Allura stood tall as Shiro spoke, even if the words began to hurt, “Have you ever thought maybe Altean language was pointless? I mean, only two of you are still alive anyways!”

Shiro threw his hands up in desperation, hoping Allura would grasp his words in understanding. But when he saw the tears well up in her eyes, and he felt the pain it caused his heart, he knew he was going to lose regardless.

“That was low, even for you,” She said accusingly.

“And you insulting my home wasn’t?” He responded with a slightly softer tone.

Allura sniffled as she wiped at her eyes with her palms, “I was simply telling the truth.”

Shiro sat on the floor, deciding to continue searching through the paladins belonging rather than fight with Allura, who grabbed a notebook regardless of her outburst.

As Shiro flipped through the pages of Lance’s photo album, he felt a wave of nostalgia hit him. The photos at the beginning were from nearly three years ago, he could tell by the short hair both Pidge and Hunk sported. The photos showed the fun times, after training, after a successful mission. There were some of Hunk trying to teach Keith how to cook something other than ramen noodles, Lance playing an Altean board game with Coran, Pidge falling asleep slumped over her laptop. As he got further into the photo album, he began to make a connection.

He and Allura were hardly present in the photos.

Now that he thought about it, he hardly remembered any of these event. Looking back at the photo of Pidge, he noticed the words on her lap top screen read _“Mamora HQ Data Base Re: Kuralis”_ which was a mission from just a few months ago. He didn’t remember Pidge ever falling asleep over her laptop.

Beginning to think he was overthinking, Shiro inspected another photo. It was Keith awkwardly being handed something resembling a cupcake with a lit candle sticking out it. Lance sat beside Keith holding the cupcake on the older boys bed with Pidge sitting on the ground and Hunk’s head peaking around the corner to take a selfie.

Shiro pulled out the photo and turned it around to see Lance’s handwriting: _Keith Kogane 21st Birthday._

21? Was Keith already 21? Shiro could have sworn he was only 19.

_Two birthday’s went by without me noticing?_

Shiro glanced up from the book as the Princess staring dumbfounded at the notebook. As much as the earlier conversation irritated the black paladin, he was thankful she took his words to heart. She at least seemed to be making an effort, and that brought him happiness.

As if she could sense his eyes, the princess’s gaze met Shiro’s with a crimson blush shading her cheeks.

“Ah,” Shiro let out a nervous chuckle, “Sorry, just needed your input on something.”

“Interesting, I did as well,” Allura said with meek smile.

Shiro scooted his body to sit closer to Allura’s, “You go first.”

Allura cleared her through as she pointed to the words on the paper, “Some of these words I recognize, like _Earth_ , and _bypass_ , but what is _pee_?”

“That’s…” Shiro couldn’t hold back his laughter, “That’s Pi, Princess.”

“Impossible!” She shouted over his laughter as she straightened her posture, “I have seen the blue paladins ask Yellow for Pie with an e! He even wrote it!”

“That’s a different kind of Pi,” Shiro regained his posture as he began to explain the difference to the Altean Princess, “Pie with and ‘E’ is a type of pastry food we make on Earth. Pi with no ‘E’ is a mathematical term, which makes sense for Pidge to have used.”

Allura shook her head in defeat, “Earth language is incredibly difficult.”

Shiro nodded, “English is said to be the hardest language on earth to learn.”

Allura’s eyes widened, “You mean to tell me there is more than one language on your planet?”

“Well, yeah,” Shiro began, “English is the top language even though it is insanely hard. There’s also Spanish, which is a language Lance speaks, and Japanese, which I know, and Italian, Swedish, Russian, Chinese, Sign Language, there’s even a separate language incase you’re blind called braille.”

“That’s… incredible,” Allura said in awe.

She almost begged Shiro to continue speaking about his home.

“Well,” Allura shook herself from her thoughts, “What did you need my help with?”

Shiro grabbed the photo album and pulled out the birthday photo once more to hand to Allura, “Do you ever remember a birthday for Keith?”

“Yes I do,” she began which slightly eased Shiro’s worry, “He had made a huge deal about the blue paladin finding out when his day of birth was and hid in his chambers until the yellow paladin lured him out with promises of cake.”

And as quickly as his worry left, it came flooding back ten fold, “That was his 19th birthday, what about his 20th? Or 21st?”

Allura sat thinking for a moment before shaking her head, “No I do not recall another time besides that. Why do you ask?”

“Because it seems they celebrated without us,” Shiro said sadly as he pointed at the photo.

Confusion filled Alluras expression, “Well I suppose they know celebrating during a war is a waste of time and chose to hide it rather than be caught.”

“Allura…” Shiro sighed, “We talked about this. The war is important, but so is everyone’s sanity. They need to have some time to themselves as well.”

“Well it seems they have too much,” Allure pointed out, “So much time that the red paladin had a birthday without us.”

“Why do you call them that?” Shiro suddenly asked.

“What do you mean?” Allura respond innocently leaving Shiro slightly annoyed at her cluelessness.

“Why don’t you ever call them by their names?” Shiro had wondered that over the years yet never found time to ask her. It seemed the only person she referred to by name was himself, but everyone else was restricted to “Paladin”.

“I’m not quite sure,” She responded as she broke eye contact, “I guess it’s just my diplomatic side.”

“Maybe you should drop the politics,” Shiro suggested with a smile which made Allura’s face heat up, “You know, everyone here is family, you can act like it.”

“That is much easier said than done,” She stated as she shuffled anxiously, “My culture is different from yours. I cannot treat you all the same.”

“Why not?” Shiro asked with curiosity, “Explain it to me.”

Allura sighed as she tried to decipher her thoughts to explain them in a way that Shiro could understand. What was there to say? 

“I suppose my home always put work first in every aspect of life. My father always taught me to take care of the planet first are foremost. I cannot understand how a group of children could not understand how important this war is.”

“Allura,” Shiro began softly, “They do understand, but I think we’re pushing them a bit too far. Even on Altea I’m sure your father put time aside for you and your mother, otherwise, how would you have had a relationship with him?”

Allura looked away sadly as she recounted the memories of old, “Then what do you propose we do? I cannot change so easily, and none of the paladins…” She paused at the look Shiro gave her, “I mean, none of our friends are here for us correct wrongs.”

“Perhaps I can help,” Coran ejected from the hallway that he had been hiding in.

Ever since the screaming had began Coran stuck himself outside the door to listen in incase he was needed. Needless to say, he was proud of Allura for finally understanding.

“Coran?” Allura stood to greet the other Altean along with Shiro.

“You want to help us?” Shiro asked, “I thought you refused.”

“That I did,” he said as he played with his mustache, “Until you two seemed to come level headed. Now that you have returned to a better state of mind, I am prepared to offer my assistance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! Another update for you :) So I actually had a lot more to add to this chapter but my Allura and Shiro portion just got waaayyyy too long and if i were add more to this chapter then my goodness we would have had a lot of words. However i do plan on updating again either today or within the next two days so don't worry :) After some decision I did decide to include relationships to this story so I hope that doesn't bother anyone. Please let me know what you think of this chapter!!! I had soooo much fun writing the pokemon portion and the Pi bit!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The run away Paladin arrive at Planet Cario while Shiro has his own demons to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been awhile!!! Sorry I haven't updated in forever!!! I had some huge writers block and I got super busy with some cosplay. I made Lance's Paladin armor for a contest and I had so much fun!!! Anyways, I hope you like this update!!
> 
> IMPORTANT INFO: I began writing this story before Shiro was confirmed as a gay man. I originally began this with a Shallura take. I want to work Adam into this story however, there will be some Shallura aspects until it shifts. I really hope that doesn't bother anyone!!!

“This place is too creepy,” Lance muttered as he pulled his hood up over his head.

Keith nodded in agreement as he secured his black bandana around the bottom half of his face, “Even more of a reason to get out of here as soon as possible.”

The two boys had entered the small town relatively unnoticed save for a few glares of uncertainty from wandering citizens. The town consisted of wooden shacks and dirt roads, closely reminiscing the old west movies Lance used to watch with his grandpa as a little boy. Except this place was surrounded by jutting rocks forming tiny mountains that the inhabitants had carved houses into.As the paladins had made their way across the town, Lance made the terrifying conclusion that they stuck out like a soar thumb in their brightly colored clothing.

In fact, looking around at the people living in nearby run down shacks, he noticed everyone wore bland, ratty clothing with dull colors. The planet was like a polar opposite to Tyla, and Keith’s bright red jacket really didn’t fit in with the crowd.

Lance glanced around as he and Keith made their way through the semi busy streets at the people eyeing him with curiosity. At first, he had tried to ignore the looks he was getting. Once upon a time he might have adored those looks, even if they were menacing. But now they just gave him the creeps. Starting to feel like prey being scouted by predator, Lance began to speed up causing Keith to trail behind him.

As Keith matched Lance’s sudden change in pace, the older boy leaned in closer to whisper something in his directions, “What’s up? You okay?"

Keith kept his eyes on the dirt road in front of him, keeping an eye out for some place for him to buy some fuel. He had noticed the displeasing eyes as he passed the aliens that inhabited this planet as well, but had chosen not to pay much attention to them.

“We should hurry,” Lance whispered which only worried Keith, but he didn’t press forward. Instead he nodded in acceptance.

He trusted Lance and his judgement.

“Hopefully we can find some fuel here,” Keith added as Lance turned his head to check behind them.

“I’m guessing getting fuel here is going to be harder than Tyla…” Lance said seeming to mimic Keith’s thoughts.

The idea of getting any source of fuel here was almost non existent with the state this town was in. 

The boys rounded a corner quickly as they threw another look behind them, nearly running into a passing citizen in the process, “Oh I’m so sorry,” Keith had began only to be interrupted by a feminine gray, scaled alien shouting in protest as Keith stepped back. The language was nothing he had ever heard but he was certain she had shouted a string of profanities at him based on the surrounding reactions of the other aliens. 

After a few more hateful sentences from the alien and moments of confusion for the boys, she stomped off leaving dust clouds in her path which caused the two earth boys to cough. 

“Well that sure was interesting,” Keith said in-between coughs.

Lance attempted to respond only to wrack his lungs with coughs as well.

“Well,” the two boys jumped in surprise by the new deep voice, “Looks like we got ourselves some outsiders.”

As the two paladins calmed their lungs, they had to look up to face the figure towering over them. The species that inhabited the planet Cario were gray scaled creatures with three fingers and three toes. They had resembled some type of humanoid lizard which would fascinate Pidge had she been here. 

The creature smirked as two equally as terrifying creatures flanked him with identical facial expressions. They were massive in size. Lance had determined three, maybe four Keiths would equal their size.

“Man,” Lance began trying to swallow his fear, “looks like you guys don’t miss leg day.”

“Lance,” Keith hissed under his breath in warning for the other boy to stay quiet.

Lance only gulped in response.

He knew this place wasn’t right.

The giant alien grabbed Lance by the back of his jacket and shirt, forcing this hands to grab at his neck hole to prevent it from choking him as he we was pulled upwards. Suddenly he was hanging nearly ten feet in the dust encased air that agitated his throat once more.

“Whoa,” Lance yelled with a scratchy voice, “didn’t anyone ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself!” As Lance struggled against the tight grasp on his clothing, his hood fell leaving his face visible to the three creatures eyeing him like a piece of meat.

The creature laughed as he dangled Lance infant of the Keith who glared at the three with murderous intent, “Humans, huh? You guys sure are overhyped.”

“Overhyped?- HEY! QUIT IT!” Lance attempted to wiggle out of his now extremely tight clothes to escape the hold of the alien as the giant hand lifted his shirt to expose the various scars he’d accumulated from the space war he was forced to fight in.

“He’s so tiny, Cratt,” one of the lackey’s said as he poked Lance’s chest.

“I’m not surprised with a weak race like theirs,” The alien, presumably Cratt, responded.

“I’d appreciated it if you left my body ALONE!” The blue paladin shouted as he removed one hand from his shirt collar to attempt at concealing his torso.

Keith stood, boiling with rage. He had to fight the urge to pull out his knife and slash these guys into pieces. But he had to think of Voltron. He had to think of their reputation. He had to think of Allura and Shiro finding out they were here. He had to think about his minimal information and the fact that he may very well lose a fight against these three and an entire village. He had to figure out another solution.

“Would you please put my friend down?” Keith pathetically asked with a bite to his tone which seemed to amuse the three figures in front of him. 

“Or what,” Cratt taunted as he kneeled down to Keith with a grin, “you're going to make me?”

Cratt laughed which only irritated Keith more, “Sorry human,” Cratt started as he tossed Lance who yelled in surprise to one of his goonies, “I like this one,” he said pointing at Lance who was now hanging upside down by one leg in the clutches of a lackey.

Keith thought for a moment, glancing at Lance who was eyeing him nervously from the grasp of another alien. He wasn’t sure if we was willing to take any chances with fighting these guys. He could obviously deduce that the alien had an interest in Lance, but why? What for? That unknown question was what left Keith worried.

He just needed to buy time so he could figure out a weakness. If he found their weakness, exploited it, and freed Lance to fight along side him, then they would be home free.

Keith had little time to think before shuffling could be heard behind him. He was quickly surrounded by various other lizard creatures. Suddenly he felt a large hand grab his shoulder harshly, making him grunt in surprise.

Cratt smirked as his eyes cast over Lance’s body, “I guess I get to keep the boy for myself. He'll work just fine.”

…

Shiro sat in his bedroom with only the night from his desk shining down on him. He couldn’t keep his watering eyes off of the photos scattered across his wrinkled comforter. Every memory that he couldn’t recall seemed to widen the wound growing in his heart. 

He felt the heavy pain of regret hanging from his shoulders and pulling him down into a depression. He had failed his family in more ways than one. He ignored them when they needed him. He denied them a childhood and exiled them to a life barely worth living. He took away their humanity and screamed his lungs dry until they could barely recognize him. He barely recognized himself.

And all for what? For a princess that didn’t give two shits about him? A princess that cared more about herself than anyone else on this ship? A princess that has helped him berate and belittle his team until they were pushed to run away?

Why did love make him so blind?

A tear made its way onto a photo of Lance with his newly transformed Bayard, making the photo just a bit blurry.

_“You know where they are! I demand you tell me this instant!"_

Shiro cringed at the memory from only earlier this day.

_“I’m sorry princess but I implore you to listen to me first, “ Coran’s voice remained calm which eased Shiro’s nerves about the situation slightly. He never knew how to handle an angry Allura without making her angrier._

_“I will not sit here being told how to run this castle!” Allura stomped her foot much like a child when throwing a tantrum,” They will return this instant and you will tell them so!”_

_“Allura, maybe we should listen to him,” Shiro added as worry for his team filled his chest, “He just wants us to hear him out.”_

_Allura’s eyes snapped to Shiros. Her gaze, once softer and happier, had developed into harsh blades driving into Shiro’s skin. He hadn’t seen this side of her in awhile. Her soft blue eyes became waves of destruction. Her snow white hair became a blizzard threatening to freeze his heart. Everything in his mind screamed to back down in fear of losing the woman he loved._

_Then he realized she wasn’t that woman. She had changed from the person he had fallen for. He thought of the missing memories in Lance’s photo album. He thought about how he should have been sharing those moments with them instead of siding blindly with Allura._

_He needed to stand up to the woman who had a hand in the destruction of this team. The person who helped him tear down this family._

_“You’re saying I should sit here and listen to this man tell us we’re wrong? That we deserve this?”_

_“Princess,” Coran stepped forwards with irritation creased in his forehead, “perhaps it’s best to leave the paladins alone for the moment. Allow them some time to themselves. You have been awfully strict lately.”_

_“This is outrageous!” Allura’s voice grew louder with each word as she stepped closer to the_

_Altean man in anger, “How dare you tell me how to manage this team! This is my castle and I will do as I wish!”_

_“This is why I refused to help you before,” Coran crossed his arms while maintaining a professional glare, “You aren’t ready to see the paladins. Perhaps it was a mistake for me to have thought you were ready. And as long as I feel you shouldn’t see them, you will never learn of their coordinates. Until you have a civilized talk with me about what this team as fallen too, you will never know where Keith, Lance, Pidge, or Hunk are. Oh,” Coran paused to caress his chin as if to ponder his words, “or do you not remember their names again?”_

_Shiro’s breath hitched as he processed Coran words, “You didn’t remember their names?”_

_Allura shifted uncomfortably at the attention she was getting, grabbing hand fulls of her gown to prevent her hands from fidgeting anywhere else, “That is besides the point.”_

_“So it’s true,” Shiro dropped his jaw slightly as his own anger began to overcome his mind, “You forgot their names.”_

_Allura said nothing, only staring at the floor as she twisted the fabric between her fingers. He couldn’t tell if that was guilt or embarrassment washing her face, but he didn’t waste time trying to find out._

_“We need to listen to Coran, Allura,” Shiro said with a stone cold voice forcing Allura to snap her gaze into his directions, “I’m not letting you keep me from them anymore. I want to listen to whatever Coran has to say so we can fix this obviously broken team. We can admit we made a mistake. Or rather, more than a few mistakes.”_

_“So you’ll just bend over and take it?!” Allura accused with a pointed finger, “You’ll shed your dignity to be called a failure by a man that hasn’t rose higher than a servant in society?!” Allura stepped closer to Shiro with every word until she was in his face and jabbing her pointed finger into his chest, “You’ll stand here and let him make a mockery of our leadership?!”_

_“Allura…” Shiro attempted to say only to be cut off by Allura._

_“You may not address me so formally. You are not a leader in my eyes. Peasants may refer to me as Princess.”_

Shiro let another tear drop onto the laminated paper below, landing on Keith’s grin. The grin that he hadn’t seen in years because he was so blind, so ignorant. He wished he could go back and prevent himself from ever falling for Allura. Maybe he could prevent her from becoming so cold as well. But what was done was done and all that’s left to do is tend to the rubble.

All Shiro knew at this point was that the rest of the team had taken an escape pod to god knows where. He had no way of finding them without Pidge’s expertise. He couldn’t analyze the situation to figure out context clues like Hunk. He didn’t have a driving force to bug Coran for information like Keith. And sure as hell couldn’t get out of his depressed state without Lance’s silly jokes. When was the last time he heard Lance crack a joke? 

Shiro groaned as he grabbed ahold of his head in pain. The headache was a sign to call it a night.

Reluctantly, Shiro stood and brought the photo album to his desk where a box of the other belongings sat. He set the photo album on the side of Pidges notebooks before picking up the items that seemed to hold so much more weight now than before.

Shiro called it the weight of guilt.

Entering their rooms was more difficult this time around than before. He was much more aware of the situation now than he was just earlier that day. Entering Pidge’s room almost brought the tears flooding back again. He carefully placed all of the notebooks back in the organized mess that was the green paladins room. Glancing around the room, he noticed the amount of notes on the walls that had gone missing and left only torn pieces of paper. It was like her to keep her findings in clear view around her, so why was she tearing it down?

Upon closer inspection he noticed Matt’s name on some of the papers.

_“Pidge,”_ his own voice from the past echoed in his mind, _“It’s been two years since we joined this war and you’ve always been halfway out the door ready to abandon this team to save someone who’s most likely dead. I expect you to drop this search for Mathew Holt and focus only on Voltron.”_

_Looks like she couldn’t help herself._

Shiro sighed in regret, wondering how those words ever left his mouth to begin with. He knew Matt personally, he knew what it felt like to lose family. He should have helped Pidge instead of denying her the right to look for her brother.

The next room was Hunks which was much cleaner than Pidge’s. He quickly made his way to the yellow paladins desk to slip the various letters back in his drawer. As Shiro placed one particular letter to Shay down, he remember one of the sections of Hunks writing,

_“We could have saved so many more people if we weren’t stuck at the photoshoot. I’m ashamed of the praise we get when, in my eyes, we failed as defenders of the universe.”_

He remembered that day. Allura had been determined this photoshoot was necessary to their image and had nearly banished Hunk to the castle for his constant objections. He was on board with Allura as always, but the paladins were weary. He chalked it up to nerves, but had never thought of the after lying effects of missing that radio call for help. He’d been upset himself, but this was War. Casualties happen. But he was never there for his team afterwards to wash the blood from their hands. He never considered the warnings Hunks had given, nor gave them a second thought.

How could he have pushed them to the side so easily?

Shiro slammed the drawer closing some papers in the crease and regretting it with the loud sound moments later. His hands shook and no amount of coaxing them to relax would work. But he deserved this, didn’t he? He deserved to know how much he fucked up. He deserved to know how much he hurt his family.

So he reopened the drawer, making sure to smooth out the crumpled paper to the best of his ability and replacing them neatly for Hunk when he returned. If he returned.

He wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.

Shiro ran his finger through his hair as he blew out a breathe of anxiousness. He hauled up the technically lighter box that still felt like pounds of rocks to him and exited the room. As he looked down into the box and saw the tiny objects he’d whisked away from Keith rooms, he felt tears surface.

Entering the red paladins room was definitely harder than the last two. Keith was like a little brother to him. He’d always felt closer to Keith because of their time at the Garrison together. He knew they fought and bickered every now and then, but he’d never imagined he’d miss Keith’s birthday. twice.

Shiro groaned outwardly at that thought. He was going to kick himself over and over again from missing not only Keiths birthdays, but everyone’s.

Shiro placed down the box and pulled out the various knives Keith had collected from planets. He was actually surprised to see Keith gathering things to remember the places they’d visited. Such as rocks that were distinct to that area, or magazines about Voltron and Earth. He picked up the pink and purple speckled magazine with a bright picture of Voltron on the front page. In big bold letters read, “Hero’s From Earth.”

He began flipping through the pages, glancing at the articles about each Paladin. Mentions of everyone’s favorite food, favorite color, and favorite thing to do in their free time littered the pages. It was like a tv show drama.

Shiro groaned as he threw down the magazine in annoyance and flopped onto Keiths bed with his head in his hands. He’d literally set the team up for failure. He projected Voltron like a reality show and now he was paying the price.

“How do I fix this…” he said barely above a whisper.

“I think I have an idea,” Coran’s voice shook Shiro from his mind as he jolted up in surprise.

“Oh my bad, I should have told you I was here,” the red headed Altean said as he entered Keith’s room.

Coran gave a small smile in sympathy as Shiro relaxed on the bed. The bigger man slid over to the head of the bed to allow the altean room to sit beside him. As the mattress sank beside him, so did Shiro’s heart as his guilt washed over him yet again. He’d treated Coran just as badly as his team.

“I am quite surprised to see you here if I must say, Number One.”

Shiro didn’t have the courage to make eye contact with Coran just yet, but the altean must have noticed his confusion as he began to explain, “I’ve been visiting the paladins quarters every day and night for the past few days.”

The pang in Shiros chest rang again as he swallowed down his pain, “Why?”

Coran spoke again, not seeming to hold any resentment for Shiro as he spoke which the black paladin couldn’t seem to understand, “I would like for their rooms to remain in tact when they return and I do not trust the Princess to leave their belongings untouched.”

“Ah,” Shiro answered with understanding dawning over him, “I wouldn’t put it past her if I’m honest.”

Coran crossed his arms, leaning back and straitening out his legs in front of the bed, “She never used to be like this, it’s quite peculiar that she’s changed so much,”Coran placed on hand on Shiro’s back which startled him, “However, I’m glad to see you standing up to her.”

Shiro finally locked eyes with Coran feeling the sadness weighing on him becoming too harsh to handle. His mouth opening a few times, stumbling on his words he wanted to speak so badly. He had so much he wanted to say to Coran, to his team, but he didn’t know where to start.

He fucked up. Big time. And he didn’t know how to fix it.

“Shiro,” Coran interrupted Shiro from his internal smuggling as his hand gripped a little tighter onto Shiro’s shoulder, “You can fix this.”

“How?”Shiro shook his head to disbelief as his eyes watered against his will, “Where do I start? How do I find them Coran? How do I tell them…” Shiro trailed off as he blew out a shaky breath, “How do I tell them I’m sorry?”

Coran’s small smile grew as he wrapped his arm fully around Shiro, “You say just that. Say you’re sorry. Prove to them you’ll do better.”

Shiro’s watery eyes met Coran’s once more but this time he was more determined that ever. He was going to fix this, even if it took days, weeks, months, or years. He wanted to fix this. He wanted to be the leader his team once respected him as. He wanted to make it up to them.

“Coran, I’m sorry,” Shiro said confidently, “We should have trusted you. We should have listened to you. I’m sorry.”

Coran would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud. And his small chuckled made that apparent, “Thank you my boy. I forgive you.”

“Wait,” Shiro shocked his head, “You forgive me that easily?”

Coran took his arm from Shiro to stretch his limbs in front of his, “I’m easy to please, you might say. I’m just glad to have gotten through to you!”

Coran stood from the bed with hop. He slid his hands down his suit to smooth out the cloth as Shiro wiped his face and attempted as composing himself.

“Now then!” The altean pointed a finger upwards with a joyous tone in his voice, “Let’s say we track down the remaining members of Voltron and make it up to them!”

Shiro stood to join Coran, “What about Allura?” 

Coran shook his finger, “No worry about her! I can handle Princess Allura. You just worry about your team!”

“So,” Shiro scratched his head as a nervous tick, “Does this mean you really do know where they are?”

Coran smiled yet again, “That of course I do! They’re headed to Earth.”

Shiro mentally face palmed. How had he not guessed that.

“You will head there in a separate pod!” The red head exclaimed, “I will deal with the princess as you find the rest of this family.”

Shiro felt a portion of the suffocating weight lift from his chest. He was going to find them and make it okay again. He was going to fix this.”

“There’s no time to waste!” Coran shouted as he grabbed Shiro’s hand hastily and nearly dragged him out of Keith’s room.”

“Ah wait! I need to return Lance’s Photo album first.”

“Oh my boy,” Coran started, “I have a feeling you’ll want to bring that with you.”

…

Lance found himself in a very peculiar situation. One that he never thought he'd end up in, but one that also would come to be a great story teller one day. That is, if he ever made it out of this place. In front of him were five or so reptilian creatures, arguing about whether knives... could beat a  _gun_.

The group had taken him to some kind of bar, or what resembles one. There were dozens of aliens sitting at tables, drinking some type or aged alcoholic beverage that smelled rotted and entirely disgusting, but they seemed to love it. Lance stood behind the main counter, with a foot attached to a 2 foot chain that came from the wall behind him. He was kidnapped and separated from Keith so he could play  _bartender._

"They're completely underestimating my power," Lance dead panned as he tried to wipe off the layers of dirt from the counter. No amount of cleaning could make this place look nice.

"No Cratt, you can't win with a gun." One of the aliens spoke, "You'd have to load it, charge it, whatever. And hope you aim it right. By that time I've already come at you with this baby," The alien pulled out his blade with a smirk.

"Um excuse me," Lance interjected, not caring for the customers giving him some deadly glares, "You've got it all wrong."

"Human!" A rather drunk looking alien in the corner, seemingly the owner of the join, shouted, "Quiet down! We took you because you  _attract_ business. Don't  _chase away_ my business or you'll end up like your friend," The alien looked rather smug as he took another swig from his cup.

_ Keith. Is he okay? _

The group laughed at his worry as Cratt resumed their conversation, leaving Lance to continue cleaning the never ending mess in front of him.

"But think about it Ferg,"  _So, his name was Ferg? A terrible terrible name_ , "You have to get close to me to attack me with the knife. I can be as far away as I want and still attack. You will be at a disadvantage."

When the crowd booed Cratt's argument, Lance couldn't help but feel annoyance at this species level of ignorance.

"But I can dodge your bullet with my knife!"

Okay now Lance has had enough, "The probability of you actually deflecting his bullet with your knife is nearly impossible."

"Human!" The alien in the corner slammed his cup onto the table is fury, "I will show you a fate worse than death!"

"No wait Mirel," Cratt held his hand out, "I'm interested."

Ferg scoffed as he crossed his arms over his chest, "You're only interested because he's buttering you up."

"I'm not buttering anyone up. I'm stating facts," Lance leaned over the counter, "A fire arm is a long ranged weapon, meaning attacking from a distance is their strong suit. However, attacks up close can still be effective."

Lance eyed the room, noticing he had everyone's attention, and decided this was an opportunity he needed to grab, "Because a knife is close ranged only, If someone fired at Ferg here," The alien gave a grunt at his name being said, "From 30 feet away, the bullet would be going too fast for him to see, therefor, he wouldn't be able to dodge it."

"Who says I couldn't see it!" Ferg shot to a standing position in defense, "You don't know my skills!"

"Now let's say hypothetically," Lance flicked his hands in the air as he spoke, "You had super vision that allowed you to see the bullet. Then you could dodge right?" The room shrugged in agreement, "Well, A fire arm allows you to fire multiple shots in just a few seconds. What is the likely hood you would dodge dozens of bullets back to back?"

"Eh what do you know," Ferg dropped back down to his chair, "You're just a human."

"Well," Lance knew he was pushing his luck but he couldn't stop himself, "I may just be a human, but I have years of fire arm experience under my belt."

"Oh so you're cocky now," Ferg challenged. The Alien stood, grabbing the gun from Cratt's belt as he stormed closer to him. Suddenly the alien's face was only centimeters from Lances', the gun's handle pressed against his chest and a knife was positioned by his side. Ferg's rough voice made Lance cringe back, "Why don't you show us your shooting skills. Try any funny business then you die here and now."

Lance slowly nodded, taking the gun into his hand. Inside, he was terrified, but outside he was calm and collected. It was smaller than he was used to, but he was always a good improviser. Lance began to get a feel for the gun in his hands, determining how he was going to go about his plan. He would only fire three shots. He only had one chance to do this, and he couldn't fail.  _No pressure or anything. It's not like everyone's staring at you or anything._

Lance raised his arms, and each alien in the room began whispering. Lance paid them no mind as he setup his shot. The first one would be aimed right in front of him to hit the side of the makeshift clock on the wall. The second one would hit the corner of the room, right on the door hinge. The third one would hit empty candle holder on the wall. He'd done this hundreds of times, he knew he wouldn't miss. He knew he couldn't miss. If his team was confident in him, he would be too. I closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could do this.

The first shot rung out, with the second and third following shortly after. Three shots back to back, the first one hit the clock, and came back to hit the handle of the knife Ferg was holding. The knife fell to the floor, which Lance kicked to the side out of Ferg's reach. The second shot hit off the door hinge, heading towards the window rim on the top of the opposite wall, and then ricocheted off to sever the chain attaching Lance to the wall. The third shot after hitting the empty candle holder went straight for the cup full of alcohol the bar owner named Mirel was holding. The cup shattered instantly. While Ferg was distracted and clearly surprised by his skill, Lance elbowed the alien in the stomach, causing Ferg to stumble back. With the upper hand, Lance took his gun and aimed it in Fergs face, the head of the gun against his forehead.

"Even being only an inch away from you, I beat you with a gun." Lance smirked, gesturing to the room around him who had also pulled out their knives in defense, "You think a few knives can stop me? I managed to escape and leave you without a means to protect yourself. You're at my mercy now."

Ferg was shaking in his boots. He obviously hadn't expected Lance to show him up. With his life on the line now, the alien sure was quiet. The Paladin felt the guy. He knew what it was like to be utterly terrified in the face of death, but his happiness with himself and his shooting was overshadowing his guilt. 

Ferg gulped, fear clearly evident on his face, "So now what? Are you going to kill me?"

If the he really wanted to, Lance had the power to kill everyone in this room. He'd never realized how much power he had in his hands. He held life and death so close to his heart every time he took a gun in his hand. Yet he'd always been a merciful opponent.

Lance eyed Ferg suspiciously, glancing at the surrounding aliens who were awaiting nervously for an answer, "No, I'm a hero. Not a villain. I won't recklessly kill someone," Lance pulled his gun back, "Even if they humiliate me by imprisoning me to bar duty."

Ferg stepped back slowly, and Lance turned to face the crowed who still seemed hesitant to drop their weapons. Everyone was extremely still, he couldn't even hear a breath. He met everyone's eyes and he wished he didn't see complete fear in each of them. He was a hero damn it.

"Who are you?" A younger alien asked from the back of the room in a timid voice, "Who are you with, are you G-Galra?"

Sudden panicked filled the room with whispers of whether the human was apart of the Galra empire. Lance sighed, "I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm a Paladin of Voltron, I promise you I'm not an enemy. I'm not Galra."

"Wait," Cratt stepped forward seemingly the only person not afraid to approach him, "You're the Blue Paladin aren't you? Didn't your partner call you 'Lance'?"

Lance nodded, pointing to his hood, "I wore my hood to hide my face but you all didn't seem to recognize me by my face. You really had no idea who we were."

The crowd slowly lowered their weapons as whispers of happiness fill the room. Whispers of hope and joy. The fear disappeared from their eyes and was filled with something Lance wasn't sure of.

"We haven't had contact to outside planets in years," Cratt explained, "But we do know that Voltron saved our home planet. And for that we owe you our gratitude."

"What?" Lance rubbed at his head as he tapped the gun on the counter, earning him some nervous gasps, "I don't remember us ever visiting this planet before."

They'd rescued many Planets in the past, someone of which he couldn't remember. But he feels like a place like this would have stuck in his mind.

"Not Cario," Merlin stood from his seat, much more sober now, "Planet Caesar. We've been stranded here since the Galra attack with no way to contact out home."

"Oooh I see," Lance responded with a fond remembrance, "I remember Planet Caesar. That was a few years back. And you haven't been able to contact home?"

The paladin received a room full of shaking heads, "Well then," Lance shoved the gun into his pocket and clapped his hands together, "I think I may be able to help you with that!"

"You can?" Ferg exclaimed, "You can help us get home?"

The cuban boy grinned, "Yeah, if you let me and my friend go, I know a girl who's pretty good at that stuff."

...

Keith grunted as he pulled at the restraints around his arms. He was sure his arms were torn to shreds by now with the rope chafing around his skin, but he was hardly bothered by the pain. He was, however, terrified that he hadn’t seen Lance in over an hour. They’d been separated quickly after the aliens surrounded them, and Keith had been left to mull over his thoughts in a small, rocky tomb.

He knew generally where he was, in a rock. _Obviously._

“Just my luck huh?” His voice bounced off the rocks in an echo.

He knew he was in a place that held other people like him, which he guessed he could call Prisoners. But he couldn’t tell if this rocky prison was meant to be a holding cell or coffin, and he had no intention of staying long enough to find out.

Keith blinked a few times to clear his mind as he surveyed the dark room. He had only one light source from very tiny cracks in the ceiling. His Galaran side gave him excellent eye sight in the dark, but he still managed to hit his head during his sweep of the area. He saw… a lot of dirt. The dust in the air made his lungs itch and his nose ticklish, so he made an attempt to avoid kicking it up into his air supply. 

He noticed the rock was actually a bunch of rocks stacked on top of each other to created a closed in rock hut. Maybe he could push it over and create a hole to freedom?

Keith shook his head, they would expect that. The rocks would probably topple over him and squash him to death. Not to mention the rocks looked sharp and rather lethal. One could easily impale him.

Instantly Keith was struck with an idea. His eyes scanned the hut for the sharpest jutting rock and situated himself in front of it. He guided his bound wrist to the jagged stone and began picking at the poor excuse of a restraint. Nearly twenty minutes later he felt the pressure around his arms loosen as the rope dropped to the floor.

Now that his arms were free, maybe he could dig his way out of here. The ground seemed rough but with enough force he could probably find his way out by night time. Or instead he could carefully Jenga his way out. 

After much consideration, digging seemed much more time consuming, So Keith gathered some stray rocks not holding up the walls and created a stand in the middle of the hut. He began strategizing which rocks to move first in order to avoid death by falling earth.

“This is such a barbaric way to capture people,” Keith muttered to himself as he began to grab hold of the first rock, “I’ll be sure to have a _chat_ with them about their human decency. Or,” Keith considered, “alien decency.”

With careful hand movements, Keith pulled the rock from its place, trying not to disturb the structure of the hut. The rocks creaked for just a moment, terrifying the Red Paladin, but quickly quieted down. Once removed, the light streamed in the hole making it easier to see and hear the commotion going on outside.

Keith groaned as he roughly rubbed his face with his hands, “This is ridiculous, they couldn’t trap me anywhere else?”

_“No man, you gotta do it like this,”_ Keith shot his hands from his face in surprise, _Was that Lance? He was here? Is he okay?_

_“But you’re so small, how will you be able to accomplish anything?”_

The red paladin dead panned in annoyance. _Great, he’s with the alien jackass, Cratt._

_“You’re talking to one of the Paladins of Voltron, I know what I’m doing.”_

Keith’s breathe hitched, what was the idiot thinking? _He can’t reveal us as paladins!_

_“Remember,”_ Lance continued to talk in his sweet tone that always made Keith’s heart flutter just for a moment, _“if you let me and my friend go, we could help you with your dilemma.”_

Keith stumbled back in confusion, which ended with him tripping and falling off his pile of rocks onto the dirt with a vocal grunt in pain.

_“Keith? Can you hear me?”_ Suddenly Lance’s voice was so much closer.

Keith cleared his throat and pushed himself into a sitting position, “Yeah, I hear you just fine.”

_“What was that sound your companion made?”_

_“It sounds like he’s hurt…”_ Keith couldn’t help but feel bad for the pitch of worry in Lance’s voice, “ _Are you doing okay?”_

“Well,” Keith began with very clear passive aggressive behavior, “I’d be doing better if I wasn’t trapped under a pile of rocks.”

Lances awkward laugh put a grin on Keith’s face, _“Right! Our friend Cratt here agreed to let us go.”_

_“Take cover humans!”_

Keith had barely any time before he could hide his head under his arms. Within seconds the rocks came sweeping over him. One swing of a hand from the giant reptilian had the top of his rock prison destroyed. Immediately he felt arms around him, guiding him to a standing position. When Keith opened his eyes he was met face to face with the most beautiful blue eyes. 

“You’re okay!” Lance exclaimed with happiness that quickly shifted to concern, “and bleeding holy fuck!”

Lance's hands made it Keith’s head where a small cut was bleeding down to his cheek. One of the rocks he hit his head on must have cut him.

“Eh,” Keith shrugged, “I’ll live.”

Lance grinned at Keith’s comment before turning back to Cratt who seemed much less aggressive than before, “Thank you Cratt.”

“My apologies Paladins, I shouldn’t have underestimated you.”

Keith eyed Lance in confusion, whispering, “What happened?”

Lance’s eyes shone bright as he began to speak, “I convinced Cratt here that we were trustworthy! I showed him some shooting and beat his best sniper by a land slide!”

Keith’s heart warmed at the thought of Lance sweeping them off their feet with his talent, “So… you’ll let us go?”

Cratt cleared his throat, “Well yes, but your team mate here,” he pointed to Lance who’s clothes was covered with dirt by this point, “said your team may be able to help us.”

“You see, Cratt here is actually from another planet.” Lance began as he lead both Keith and Cratt back to the pod they had parked hours earlier, “Zarkon attacked their planet years ago and Voltron has liberated it. However, they haven’t had the technology to contact their planet for a rescue after being stranded here on Cario during their war.”

“Pidge,” Keith simply said with a straight face as his hand attempted to rid his body of dirt and dust. Lance nodded in response which seemed to startle Cratt.

“Can…” Cratt began with curiosity, “Can your kind read minds? How did he know what you were thinking?”

Keith can confidently say Lance’s laugh is the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard.

Lance wiped the tears from his eyes as he tried to respond, “No no no! We cant. We just think alike.”

“If we get you in contact with your home planet,” Keith’s voice trailed far enough that he saw the heads of Pidge and Hunk pop up from the pod they had in eye sight, “Can you supply us with fuel?”

“Yes,” Cratt responded with a hand pointed to the left, “We have some stranded Galra ships you can extract fuel from further that way. We never could figure out how to work them.”

“Keith! Lance!” Pidge yelled as her and Hunk began running towards the boys who in turn sped up their pace.

Pidge ran into both of them at full speed, knocking them onto their backs.

“Whoa Pidgey!” Lance grabbed onto the girl to wrap her into a hug, “You okay? What’s going on?”

“You were gone for so long,” Pidge’s voice was muffled from Lance’s shirt.

“I apologize for keeping them so long,” Cratt’s deep voice startled the two who met his eyes.

“Who are you?” Hunk asked cautiously.

“I am Cratt of Planet Ceasar. Me and my people have been stranded on Planet Cario since the war with Zarkon. You Paladins of Voltron rescued my people and I cannot be more grateful.”

“Uh,” Hunk leaned to Keith and Lance, “how did he find out we’re paladins?”

“Don’t worry,” Lance said in confidence as Hunk helped them to a stand, “We can trust him. He knows no one can know we were here.”

“But,” Pidge eyed him skeptically, “How do we _know_ we can trust him?”

All eyes were on the alien who in turn bowed, “I can assure you we will not risk announcing your location. The Blue Paladin has taught us some valuable skills today that we will not forget.”

“Lance?” Keith whispered in awe as said man rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously.

“We will forever be in Voltron’s debt,” Cratt stood straight while placing a hand over his heart, “If it is announced that the Paladins of Voltron were here, I will expect your arrival to exact revenge, Lance.”

“Well them,” Hunk coughed out awkwardly as all eye landed on Lance, “Why don’t we go about getting off this planet because we are very much off track of our current mission. You know, the _mission._ That takes _3 quintants? That_ mission?”

“Pidge,” Keith turned towards the girl, “Can you get him in contact with his home planets?”

Pidge chuckled, “Can I? I can do anything.”

Keith smirked, “Perfect. Hunk, Cratt says there are some stranded Glara cruisers from the war. Can we empty those of their fuel to refill us?”

Hunk raised his hand in a salute before grabbing a took kit.

Cratt tilted his head an awkward demeanor as he tried to start up his next topic of conversation, “I’m very sorry for my behavior earlier. It hasn’t been easy for us since many of us were separated from family. We can be very bitter at times. I hope we didn’t cause much trouble for you.”

Lance gave him a sympathetic smile, “Don’t worry my man. I understand.”

After Lance’s forgiveness, Cratt’s attention was directed at Keith expectantly. He felt like a deer in headlights as he stuttered against his will, “Uh y-yeah man. No harm done.”

“Except for your cut,” Lance chimed in, “Let me clean that up.” Lance began leading Keith to the pod after pointing Cratt in Hunk’s direction, “Hunk is probably gonna need you so he can find those stranded pods.”

Cratt nodded in understanding, leaving Keith and Lance to themselves.

Lance set Keith down on a rock as he pulled out the first aid kit from the pod. The cuban boy crouched in front of him as he began rummaging through the first aid kit. He pulled out some disinfectant and began to apply it to the cut. The red paladin couldn’t stop himself from staring. From admiring the sleek features of Lance’s face. The way his eyes glittered in the light. The way his hair flipped up after having not been able to wash it in a few days. The way he bit his lower lip when he was concentrating. Everything he did was so interesting to Keith and he couldn’t rip his eyes away.

“Keith?” Lance’s voice ripped through his throats as he blinked his mind clear. The cuban boy was staring at him with worry coating his face, “You okay?”

Keith coughed stiffly, “Uh yeah, yeah I’m good.”

Lance narrowed his eyes before grabbed at Keith arms to examine them carefully, “Are you hurt somewhere else you’re telling me about?”

The feeling of Lance’s fingers on his skin made his arm tingle and his mind dance. He wanted to wrap his fingers around them, but instead he pushed Lance’s hands down with a laugh, “No really I’m okay. I was just zoning out.”

Lance pointed at Keith with a stance that left no room for argument, “Because you’re tired. Which is why I’m piloting back and you three are _sleeping_.”

“Yeah,” The raven hair boy smiled. He smiled because his team mate was a dork who cared about everyone too much. He smiled because someone cared about him enough to tend to even the smallest of his wounds. He smiled because Lance made him smile.

“Thanks Lance,” Keith said as he stood from the rock to glance over at Pidge who was working carefully and at Hunk and Cratt who was a distance away.

Keith felt a hand rest on his shoulder with a slight squeeze, “Of course, Keith.”


End file.
